The Texas Tech basketball team have been road warriors to start Big 12 Conference play, and the Red Raiders will try to keep that momentum going on Tuesday at Cincinnati.
The Red Raiders (13-4, 4-2) finally closed a game against a quality opponent, surging past Arizona for a 70-54 win on Saturday. The victory was Tech’s fourth in their last five games and head coach Grant McCasland hopes it was a turning point for the team.
Texas Tech is already 3-0 on the road in Big 12 play but must get past the Bearcats (12-5, 2-4) who are trying to make up for an 0-4 start to league action.
Here’s how the teams stack up, players to watch and prediction for the final score.
Scouting Texas Tech basketball’s opponent: Cincinnati Bearcats
Cincinnati was one of the trendy preseason names to take a big leap, thanks in large part to returning almost every player of significance from last year’s squad. The start of Big 12 play was trying for the Bearcats, opening with four-straight losses that included playing Arizona, Baylor and Kansas in consecutive games.
The Bearcats have won their last two contests, at Colorado and against Arizona State, by a combined 13 points. Four of their first six league games have been single-digit affairs, with Cincinnati failing to crack the 70-point threshold yet in Big 12 action.
Dan Skillings Jr. — who missed most of November — and Simas Lukosius lead the Bearcats in scoring, averaging 12.5 and 12.4 points per game, respectively. Dillon Mitchell, formerly of Texas, is at 10.9 points per game and leads the team with 6.7 rebounds per contest.
Aziz Bandaogo, Cincinnati’s 7-foot fifth-year senior, has 30 blocks on the season and averages 6.2 rebounds per game himself.
Much like Arizona, Cincinnati is not a good 3-point shooting team, hitting just 32.8% of their attempts this season, which ranks 14th in the conference. However, Lukosius, Skillings and Day Day Thomas are all hitting 35% or better individually.
Cincinnati is also the best team in the Big 12 in limiting opponent 3-point opportunities. Teams have hit just 26.9% of their 3s against the Bearcats, which is second in the country. Getting open looks will be difficult for Texas Tech.
Player to watch: Cincinnati’s Simas Lukosius and Texas Tech’s Darrion Williams
Last year’s meeting between Texas Tech and Cincinnati featured Lukosius hitting four 3s and the go-ahead jumper with 21 seconds left. He’s the one true outside threat for the Bearcats, so he’s someone that’ll be high on Texas Tech’s scouting report.
Darrion Williams has left back-to-back games with injuries suffered in the final minutes. He returned against Kansas State — mostly out of necessity — and hobbled his way to the game-icing shot. Williams wasn’t having his best outing against Arizona, and with JT Toppin healthy, was able to rest as Texas Tech pulled away.
McCasland didn’t offer much of an update on Williams on Saturday, so we’re not completely sure what ailed in against Arizona, but his status is something to watch, and if he does play, will he be limited?
Elijah Hawkins is a menace
At this point, a section should be reserved for “What Elijah Hawkins Did This Week” because the Texas Tech point guard has been on another level recently.
With nine assists and no turnovers against Arizona, Hawkins now has 46 assists and five giveaways in Texas Tech’s six Big 12 games. That equates to an assist-to-turnover ratio of 9.2-to-1, an astronomical figure. He’s up to five games this season with at least nine assists.
According to College Basketball Reference, which only has box scores available dating back to about 2002, John Roberson is the only Red Raider with more such games in a single season, totaling seven during the 2008-09 campaign.
Score prediction
Cincinnati 69, Texas Tech 68: Texas Tech has done well on the road thus far but Cincinnati is a much more capable team than Utah, BYU or Kansas State. With Williams’ health up in the air, we’ll say the Bearcats get the narrow home win.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech basketball at Cincinnati: Scouting report, prediction
