Texas Tech will look to extend its home winning streak to 25 games when it hosts Georgetown at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in a Big 12-BIG EAST Battle matchup at the United Supermarkets Arena.
The Red Raiders (4-2) are coming off three games at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational where they earned a 70-38 win over Louisville between losses to No. 7 Creighton and No. 25 Ohio State. The Hoyas (4-3) are coming off a 79-70 home win over UMBC and will be playing in their first true road game of the season. Tech, which is unranked for the first time this season after falling out of the AP Top 25 from No. 21 last week, went 18-0 at home last season (including 9-0 in Big 12 play) and is also on an 18-0 winning streak in non-conference home games with three home wins this season. Overall, Tech has won 24 home games in a row with its last loss coming on February 9, 2021, against No. 14 West Virginia.
Kevin Obanor leads Tech with 13.5 points per game this season after scoring 19 against Ohio State, while Daniel Batcho is averaging 12.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game. Batcho leads the team in rebounding and blocks and is coming off a career-high 21 points against Ohio State where he was 7-for-10 from the field and 6 of 7 at the free-throw line. De’Vion Harmon leads the Red Raiders with 3.8 assists this season after matching a career-best with six against the Buckeyes and gives the team three double-figure scorers this season at 10.0 points per game after scoring 10 to go along with those six assists in the last game. Jaylon Tyson and Pop Isaacs have started all six games along with Obanor, Batcho, and Harmon, and come into the seventh game of the season just below double figures. Tyson is at 9.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, while Isaacs leads the team with 10 3-pointers and is averaging 8.0 points and 2.8 assists per game.
Georgetown is led by Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing who returned to lead his alma mater after a 17-year career playing in the NBA before 15 years as an NBA assistant coach. As a player, Ewing had 24,815 points and 11,607 rebounds and he was a 10-time NBA All-Star. He played at Georgetown during college where he was a three-time All-American and led the Hoyas to the 1984 National Championship. The Hoyas are led on the court this season by Primo Spears who is scoring 16.9 points per game and has 31 assists through seven games, while Brandon Murray is averaging 15.4 points per game, and Jay Heath is at 14.4. Akok Akok leads Georgetown with 8.0 rebounds per game to go along with 8.4 points, while Qudus Wahab is at 7.3 rebounds and gives the Hoyas four double-figure scorers with 12.6 points per game. Spears transferred from Duquesne, Murray came from LSU, and Akok from UConn. Heath, who played last season at Arizona State after two at Boston College, led Georgetown with 25 points against UMBC after hitting 5 of 6 3-pointers, while Spears had 20 points with three 3-pointers. GU was 11-for-22 on 3-pointers in the win and is currently shooting 36.6 percent from beyond the arc.
The Big 12-BIG EAST Battle also includes games between Baylor at Marquette (Tuesday), Providence at TCU (Wednesday), Kansas State at Butler (Wednesday), Creighton at Texas (Thursday), Oklahoma State at UConn (Thursday), Seton Hall at Kansas (Thursday), Oklahoma at Villanova (Saturday), St. John’s at Iowa State (Sunday) and West Virginia at Xavier (Sunday). Tech is 0-2 in the Big 12-BIG EAST Battle after falling 72-68 at Providence College last season and dropping a 65-60 overtime decision at DePaul in 2020. The Red Raiders were scheduled to host St. John’s in the 2021 Big 12-BIG EAST Battle but had that game canceled.
• Tech finished with an 18-0 record at home in 2021-22 season which was only matched by Kentucky going 18-0 at Rupp Arena… Tech outscored opponents 79.7 to 58.8 per game with opponents shooting 39.1 percent… 16 of the 18 home wins were by double-digits with the only ones not by 10 or more being victories over Kansas (75-67, +8) and Kansas State (73-68, +5)… Tech’s last home loss came on February 9, 2021 against No. 14 West Virginia
• The matchup against Creighton was the third of five regular-season games on a Monday for the Red Raiders with the final two coming in the Big 12 schedule… Tech is currently 2-1 on Mondays… The final game of the NCAA basketball season is on Monday, April 3 in Houston, Texas
• The Red Raiders had a sell-out (15,098) for their 2022-23 season-opener against Northwestern State after they finished 11th nationally in average attendance last season with 13,973 fans per game and 251,515 total… Tech had five sell-outs last season and established a new program record by exceeding capacity at 15,300 fans in attendance against Texas… There were 12 games of 14,000+ in attendance and all 18 exceeded 12,000… Tech had 13,027 in attendance last Monday in the win over Louisiana Tech.
ROSTER REPORT
• Kevin Obanor has started all 43 games since he joined the Red Raiders last season and is leading the team with 13.5 points per game after going for a season-high 19 against Ohio State and scoring 15 against Louisville… Obanor has scored in double figures in five straight games after having nine in the season-opener against Northwestern State… Before Maui, he was coming a season-high 15 points and eight rebounds against LA Tech and 13 points and seven rebounds in the win over Texas Southern… A fifth-year senior, he now has 921 career rebounds and has had 94 games where he has scored in double figures… He finished last season with double-doubles in each of the three NCAA Tournament games against Montana State (10 points/11 rebounds), Notre Dame (15/15) and Duke (10/10)… Obanor, who is a Houston native, started his college career with three seasons at Oral Roberts before transferring to Tech last season… He has 1,757 points, 921 rebounds, 175 3-pointers and 35 double-doubles in his career… Obanor earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection last season and is on the All-Big 12 Preseason Honorable Mention list along with the Julius Erving Award Watch List to start this year… Last season, he scored a season-high 23 points and also had 13 rebounds in the home win over Baylor before going for 15 points and 15 rebounds in the win over Notre Dame to reach the Sweet 16.
• Daniel Batcho recorded a career-high 21 points against Ohio State after going 7 of 10 from the field and 6 of 7 at the free-throw line… He also added six rebounds in the game after he had established a new career-high with12 rebounds in the win against Louisville along with having nine points, three blocks and three steals… He is averaging 12.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game through six games… He had scored a career-high 17 points against Creighton on Monday in Maui where he was 7-for-12 from the field in 24 minutes on the court before his 21-point performance… Batcho recorded a career-high six blocks in the win over LA Tech where he also added nine points and seven rebounds in the team’s last home game… His six blocks in a game are tied for the third most in program history with Tariq Owens owning the single-game record with eight in a win over Memphis in 2018 and Will Flemons second with seven against Texas A&M in 1990… A 6-foot-11 forward from Paris, France, he recorded the first double-double of his career with 12 points and 10 rebounds in the season-opening win over Northwestern State… He has started all six games of the season after playing 33 as a reserve last season… Batcho’s 12 points in the opener was his previous career-high after he had scored eight in games last season against Incarnate Word and Alabama State… Before his 12 rebounds on Tuesday against Louisville he had a career-high 11 rebounds in the overtime win over Tennessee last season at Madison Square Garden in the 2021 Jimmy V Classic… He would go off for four blocked shots, six points and three rebounds against West Virginia for his best Big 12 game.
• De’Vion Harmon has scored 988 points in his career after 10 points against Ohio State and 12 points against Creighton in Maui… He leads Tech with 3.8 assists per game after matching his career-best with six assists against Ohio State… Through six games, he’s averaging 10.0 points, a team-high 3.8 assists and 1.7 steals… He had matched a career-high with six assists and four steals in the win over LA Tech to go along with a season-high 15 points by going 6-for-8 from the field before traveling to Maui… Against Louisville, Harmon had three steals and now has 10 this season and 118 in his career… Harmon transferred from Oregon where he played last season after two years at Oklahoma and has now scored in double figures in four of six games this season… Harmon, a Denton, Texas native who was a Class 6A All-State performer at Guyer HS, has played in 97 games in his college career where he also now has 209 assists… Harmon averaged 10.8 points per game and had 71 assists last season for the Ducks after averaging 12.9 points per game for the Sooners as a sophomore… Harmon started 34 of 35 games last year and a season-high 21 points coming against Stanford… His career-high 23 points came in his first game as a freshman at Oklahoma against UTSA on November 5, 2019 and then again as a sophomore for the Sooners against Oklahoma State on February 27, 2021.
• Jaylon Tyson has started all six games and is averaging 9.2 points, 1.3 steals and 4.2 rebounds per game after going for 10 points and a season-best six rebounds against Ohio State… He had nine points and five rebounds against Creighton before eight points and three rebounds against Louisville… Tyson scored a career-high 13 points in the win over Texas Southern in the second game of the season… He transferred to Tech at midterm last season but did not play in a game for the Red Raiders… Tyson is currently 7-for-15 (46.7 percent) on 3-pointers and has made at least one 3-pointer in five of six games… Against Northwestern State, Tyson made his first collegiate start and was 3-for-4 from the field, including going 2-for-3 on 3-pointers to finish with eight points… His 3-pointer on Tech’s second possession of the season-opener was the first basket this season for the Red Raiders… He began his career at the University of Texas where he played in eight games with freshman season-high 11 points coming against Houston Christian… A Plano, Texas native, Tyson was an all-state performer and state champion at John Paul II… His younger brother is a freshman on the University of Colorado football team.
• Pop Isaacs has started all six games as a true freshman and leads the Red Raiders with 10 3-pointers… He is averaging 8.0 points, 2.8 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game to begin his college career… Isaacs had a career-high four 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 13 points against Creighton and is coming off scoring eight points and having a career-best five assists against Ohio State… A guard from Las Vegas, he had made at least one 3-pointer in the first five games but was 0-for-4 from beyond the arc against the Buckeyes last Wednesday in Maui… He also scored in double figures with 10 points in the home win over Louisiana Tech where he was 2-for-4 on 3-pointers.
• Kerwin Walton is averaging 3.2 points and 1.0 assists per game through six games as a Red Raider reserve… He was held scoreless in all three Maui games – his first games this season not to score… Walton led the Tech bench with nine points and four rebounds against Northwestern State in the season-opener and had five points against TSU and LA Tech… He played the last two seasons at North Carolina before transferring to Tech during the summer… He has made 83 3-pointers through 66 games in his career with a career-high five 3-pointers made in a game against Louisville in his freshman season… Walton is 83-for-215 (38.6 percent) from beyond the arc for his career, including making a UNC freshman 3-point percentage record with 58 3-pointers where he started 20 games during his first season in Chapel Hill… Walton, a Hopkins, Minnesota native, averaged 8.2 points per game as a freshman for the Tar Heels with a career-high 19 points coming in that game against Louisville… He experienced the Final Four last season as a member of UNC which finished as the national runner-up.
• KJ Allen had a season-high five rebounds against Creighton in the first game in Maui is coming off scoring two points against Ohio State… He contributed four points and four rebounds in the win over Texas Southern after he had two points in 11 minutes against Northwestern State in the opener… He played in 19 games as a reserve last season for the Red Raiders with a season-high six points coming in games against Kansas State and Omaha… A Los Angeles, California native, Allen added a season-best eight rebounds in the conference game against Kansas State… He finished his first season in Lubbock by going 16-for-30 from the field… Allen was featured on the Netflix documentary Last Chance U while playing at East Los Angeles College where he averaged 18.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game… He’s currently averaging 2.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.7 blocks per game.
• D’Maurian Williams scored a season-high 10 points against Louisville after hitting two 3-pointers and going 4-for-5 at the free-throw line… He did not play against Ohio State… A junior from Phoenix, he scored six points in 13 minutes of play in his Texas Tech debut against Northwestern State and followed it with five points against Texas Southern… Williams now has 752 points, 136 assists, 59 steals and 223 rebounds through 62 games in his career… He is in his first season at Tech after transferring from Gardner-Webb where he played the past two seasons…Williams won a national championship after high school at Putnam Science Academy (Connecticut)… He averaged in double-figures both seasons at Gardner-Webb, going for 10.8 points per game as a freshman before averaging 14.5 points per game last season as a sophomore.
• Fardaws Aimaq is an All-Big 12 Preseason Honorable Mention selection and is also on the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Watch List for the top center in college basketball. … Aimaq is a key part to the Tech roster this season but will be sidelined with a foot injury to begin the season with no official timetable for his return… A transfer from Utah Valley, Aimaq has recorded 1,056 points, 918 rebounds, 99 blocked shots and 41 double-doubles in his career… His 41 double-doubles are the fifth most for an active player in the nation… He earned the 2020-21 WAC Player of the Year honors as a sophomore after leading the nation with 15.0 rebounds to go along with 13.9 points per game and is coming off a junior season where he went for 18.9 points and 13.6 rebounds per game… He was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Year the previous two seasons… During his career, he’s averaged 11.1 rebounds per game which is the third best career mark nationally.
• Elijah Fisher is averaging 3.3 points per game with a career-high seven points coming against Texas Southern in the second game of the season…He is coming off scoring three points and having two rebounds in the loss to Ohio State… A Toronto, Ontario, Canada native, Fisher averaged 28 points and 13 rebounds during his junior season… Fisher was a consensus five-star recruit and ranked No. 15 by ESPN for the 2023 class… He reclassified to play this season and enrolled at Tech a year early.
• Robert Jennings recorded career-high eight points against Louisville after he went 3-for-5 from the field and also hit two free throws in 15 minutes of work… A freshman from Desoto, Texas, he did not score in seven minutes against Ohio State… He had six points in 10 minutes against Northwestern State in the opener before having three rebounds and two points against Texas Southern… Jennings averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds last season while playing for the Texas Alliance of Christian Athletes (home school)… He also played at Desoto HS before finishing at home.
• Lamar Washington established a career-high with seven rebounds and matched a career-high with four assists in the win over Louisville… He played a career-high 22 minutes in the win where he scored four points… A Portland, Oregon native, he is averaging 2.3 assists, 1.7 rebounds and 1.8 points to begin his freshman season… He has a career-high four assists against Louisville and Northwestern State… He also scored four points against Texas Southern after he had four assists (matched team-high) and three points in the opener against Northwestern State… Washington was the 2021 Oregon Gatorade Player of the Year while playing at Jefferson High School as a junior before playing at Compass Prep in Arizona last season as a senior… He produced 2,135 points, 705 rebounds and 823 assists during his high school career.
• CJ Williams scored his first career points against Louisville with a pair of free throws… He is the son of Tech assistant coach Corey Williams
