Texas Tech will look to build on the momentum from a pair of home wins over ranked Big 12 opponents and even its season series against West Virginia in an 11 a.m. (CST) the matchup on Saturday at the WVU Coliseum.
The Red Raiders (14-12, 3-10 Big 12) are on a two-game winning streak after earning a 74-67 win over No. 6 Texas on Monday and a 71-63 victory against No. 12 Kansas State last Saturday, while the Mountaineers (15-11, 4-9 Big 12) have lost two straight with road losses at Texas (94-60) and Baylor (79-67). WVU earned a 76-61 win over Tech in the first game in the season series on January 25 in Lubbock. The Red Raiders are 4-2 since that game.
On the road, Tech is 1-6 this season. WVU is 11-3 at home.
Kevin Obanor leads the Red Raiders with 15.2 points and 6.3 rebounds for the season, including going for 19 points and seven rebounds in the win over the Longhorns while De’Vion Harmon is averaging 20.0 points over the past five games following a career-high 25 points in the UT win. Harmon has scored in double figures in eight straight games with three games of 20 or more during that stretch. Obanor will be playing in his 150th game on Saturday, coming into the game with 2,072 points and 1,054 rebounds. Harmon has 1,286 career points in 117 games. Fardaws Aimaq has played the past two games and provided 12 points and eight rebounds in the win over Texas. Dealing with a foot injury throughout the year, he has now played in five games this season and is averaging 8.8 points and 5.8 rebounds in those games. He has 1,100 points, 947 rebounds, 101 blocks, and 41 double-doubles in his career. Pop Isaacs has missed the past six games after suffering an injury in the loss to WVU in Lubbock and is currently averaging 11.6 ppg. and leads the team with 47 3-pointers, while sophomore Jaylon Tyson is averaging 10.2 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Tyson and fellow sophomore Daniel Batcho lead the team with three double-doubles each this season. Batcho has missed the past two games with a lower-body injury and is listed as day-to-day. He leads Tech with 1.7 blocks which rank second in the Big 12 and is also providing 8.1 points and 6.0 rebounds for the season.
West Virginia has five players who are averaging in double figures this season with Erik Stevenson leading the team with 13.8 points per game, while Tre Mitchell is scoring 11.4 points per game along with adding 5.3 rebounds. Joe Toussaint is adding 10.2, Kedrian Johnson is at 10.1 and Emmitt Matthews is scoring 10.0 ppg. Matthews led WVU with 17 points and five rebounds at Baylor on Monday after going 7-for-10 from the field. In the first matchup against Tech, Toussaint led the team with 22 points with four field goals to go along with making 12 of 14 free throws.
