Tech To Be An Armful For Cougs Texas Coach Considers The Athletic Red Raiders One Of The Top 30 Basketball Teams In The Country

Any Washington State fans looking for recommendations on Texas Tech, the Cougars’ firstround opponent in the National Invitation Tournament, should check with Texas coach Tom Penders.

Here’s what Penders had to say about the Red Raiders Saturday after they took his Longhorns into overtime before losing 107-104 in the finals of the Southwest Conference Tournament:

“If Tech isn’t one of the top 30 teams in the country, I’m going to start selling shoes. If they don’t go to the NCAA, it would be a real injustice.

“Other than North Carolina, they are the most athletic team we’ve played.”

Ouch!

Considering it was Texas that clipped WSU 86-81 in the finals of the Sun Classic in El Paso, Texas, early in the year, it sounds like the Cougars face a dramatic defalcation in athletic ability - a possibility that greatly concerns coach Kevin Eastman.

“From what Tom Penders said, I think we can gather that Texas Tech is probably a little more athletic than we are,” Eastman said Monday, just a day after learning his Cougars will entertain the Red Raiders at Friel Court Wednesday night at 9.

“I personally think it’s the toughest first-round game in the NIT.”

Tech comes in 20-9 overall after having gone 11-3 in the SWC to tie Texas for the regular-season title. The Red Raiders aren’t big, but they know how to rebound. And they love to get out and run once they do.

“We like to play an up-tempo style,” said Tech coach James Dickey, who is in his fourth season at the Lubbock, Texas, school. “We’re not a pressing team, although we love to run. We play primarily man defense and we’re a good rebounding team.”

It is the Red Raiders’ ability to rebound the basketball that has Eastman’s attention. During the regular season, they outrebounded opponents by more than 10 a game and against SWC foes they were a plus-8.2 on the boards.

“We have to somehow keep it from being a real athletic game,” admitted Eastman, whose Cougars finished 16-11 and tied for fifth in the Pacific-10 Conference at 10-8. “We’ll have to keep them off the boards because (their) rebound differential is at a national leader’s level.”

Mark Davis, a 6-foot-7 forward and one of only two seniors on the team, leads Tech in rebounding with an average of 8.6 a game. He also averages 17.9 points a game, just a couple behind team leader Jason Sasser.

Sasser, who Dickey describes as “a real workhorse,” is a 6-7 junior averaging 20.2 points and 7.9 rebounds.

The Red Raiders’ top outside threat is 6-4 senior guard Lance Hughes, who is averaging 17.5 points and shooting almost 40 percent (72 of 188) from 3-point range.

Davis is considered the best athlete on the team and Hughes the best shooter.

Tech averaged 89 points a game during the regular season and shot 48.3 percent from the field, including 35 percent from 3-point range. It scored more than 100 points eight times and beat Baylor 122-91.

“We’re obviously going to have to get out and contest shots and make sure they don’t get many good looks,” Eastman said, “because if we they do, the ball is in the basket.”

The Red Raiders were unbeaten in 13 home games, but were only 4-7 on the road. Two of those losses, however, were to teams ranked among the Top 25. One was to Kentucky on a neutral court.

The only two common opponents faced by Tech and WSU were Texas and Arizona. Tech went 1-2 against Texas, winning at home (96-87), but losing on the road (82-68) and in the SWC Tournament.

The Red Raiders lost to Arizona 88-82 in the Wildcats’ Fiesta Bowl Classic in late December. UA beat WSU 84-76 in Tucson, Ariz., and 114-111 in double overtime at Friel Court.

“We’re looking at a very difficult matchup,” Eastman admitted. “With that being the case, we know we’ve got to get back to the level of intensity where we’ve got to fight and claw and scratch and everything else to win the game.

“Hopefully, we’ll have a little bit of an advantage being at home. We’re still going to have to play well, I don’t think there’s any question about that. But we’ve played well before and, hopefully, we’ll be able to play well at least one more time.”

NIT pickings: Jason Martin, Texas Tech’s starting point guard, who transferred from WSU at the start of last season, is expected to rejoin his team in Pullman this morning after spending several days in Los Angeles with his terminally ill brother. … WSU is 12-2 at Friel Court this season with its losses coming to UCLA (98-83) and Arizona. … The Red Raiders figured they would be on the road throughout the NIT because their women’s team (30-3 and seeded No. 2 in the Midwest) will probably play at home for the first two rounds of the women’s NCAA. … WSU ticket manager Janet Johnson said early ticket sales are “brisk.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with story: Game time The WSU-Texas Tech game will be on ESPN at 9 p.m. on Wednesday.