Something has to give when No. 22 Texas A&M battles former conference rival Texas Tech on Sunday afternoon on a neutral court in Fort Worth, Texas.
Both the Aggies (7-2) and the Red Raiders (7-1) carry three-game winning streaks into their first meeting since Feb. 14, 2012. Texas Tech owns a 64-62 all-time advantage in the series going back to December 1953, but Texas A&M has won the last six games between the teams when they were both members of the Big 12.
“(This kind of rivalry game) is a big part of what makes college basketball so great,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “To have a series between historic rivals is important to continue. We are thrilled about the opportunity to compete against the Aggies and know that this will benefit our team and schedule.”
A&M enters the game on the heels of a 57-44 home win over Wake Forest in a SEC/ACC Challenge game on Tuesday in College Station. Wade Taylor IV scored 15 points to lead the Aggies, who were at their best over the final nine minutes when they fashioned an 11-2 run to break it open a close game.
Henry Coleman III and Pharrel Payne added 10 points each for Texas A&M while Andersson Garcia grabbed a season-high 16 rebounds. The Aggies won despite committing 18 turnovers, including on six straight possessions.
“A lot of the things we try to be good at, we weren’t good at,” A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “Very high turnover rate. When you have a high turnover rate, you’re not going to get fouled. And you’re not going to get offensive rebounds.
“But statistically speaking, (the win over Wake) is the best game we’ve ever had here defensively.”
A&M’s two losses have come at UCF and in a neutral-site game against Oregon.
The Red Raiders are coming off a 76-62 win at home over DePaul on Wednesday in the Big 12-Big East Battle. Chance McMillian scored a season-high 22 points and Darrion Williams poured in at least 20 for the third straight game to help lead Texas Tech extend its nonconference home-winning streak to 36 games.
Tech won without JT Toppin, its leading scorer (18.6 points per game) and rebounder (11.0) on the season, because of his lower-body injury. The Red Raiders started the game on a 12-0 run, led 38-37 at halftime and forged an 8-0 run coming out of the break before building their lead to 18 points midway through the second half.
Tech held DePaul to 2-of-14 shooting from beyond the arc in the second half, when the Blue Demons shot only 35.7 percent (10 of 28) from the floor.
“We guarded the ball better (in the second half),” McCasland said. “We gave up some slips to the rim, but they needed to make 3s at that point. Our perimeter defense was the difference.”
Sunday’s game is the first for Tech against a ranked team this season.
–Field Level Media
