Kennesaw St. @ Texas Tech preview

Keenan Evans' recent individual honor is reflective of the overall play of Texas Tech. The Red Raiders look to continue building momentum after an eight-day break for finals when struggling Kennesaw State visits on Wednesday.

Evans on Monday became the first Red Raider to garner Big 12 Player of the Week honors since Jaye Crockett on Dec. 31, 2012. The 6-3 junior amassed 23 of his 32 points during the closing 11 minutes of the second half and overtime as Texas Tech erased a 10-point deficit to hand then-No. 24 Nevada its first loss of the season on Dec. 5. "I was proud of Keenan for a lot of different reasons, but one of them was the mental toughness," Texas Tech second-year coach Chris Beard said. "I thought early in the second half, he looked kind of tired to me. He was standing around on offense. I told him how I felt about that, and he took the coaching. Then, late in the game, we just put the ball in his hands." Combined with an earlier win over then-No. 20 Northwestern, Texas Tech has tucked away a Big 12-leading two non-conference top-25 victories this season - a first for the program since 1996-97 - and its lone loss was to a ranked Seton Hall team.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Southwest Plus

ABOUT KENNESAW STATE (1-7): Kennesaw State has lost five straight games, including Thursday's 66-54 loss at Seattle despite 16 points from sophomore James Scott. The 6-5 Scott, who has scored in double figures in seven of eight games, leads the team in scoring at 16.1 points per game but is shooting just 38 percent from the field and 31 from the arc. Nick Masterson, who led the Atlantic Sun Conference last season in 3-point shooting percentage (54 percent), chips in 11.6 points on 53.6 percent (15-of-28) shooting from the arc and leads the team in assists (3.3 per game) and minutes (35.0) while 6-foot guard Tyler Hooker contributes 10.3 points and tough on-ball defense.

ABOUT TEXAS TECH (7-1): Senior guard Niem Stevenson chipped in 11 points on 5-of-8 from the floor while freshman Davide Moretti registered all nine of his points during the second half in the win over the Wolfpack. Evans leads the team in scoring (17.9 points per game), assists (3.8) and steals (2.0) and is shooting 51.6 percent from the floor despite connecting on only 29 percent of his 3-pointers (9-of-31). The Red Raiders are holding opponents to 62.1 points, 37.1 percent shooting from the floor and 29.4 percent from the arc while forcing 18.6 turnovers per contest.

TIP-INS

1. The win over previously unbeaten Nevada pushed Texas Tech's non-conference home winning streak to 34 games, which was tied for fourth-longest in the nation at the time.

2. For Evans, the 32 points against Nevada was a career high and the second-most scored by a Texas Tech player under Beard. Anthony Livingston pumped in 33 points versus Rice last season.

3. Texas Tech freshmen wings Jarrett Culver and Zhaire Smith have combined to tally 20.3 points per game on 56.2 percent shooting and 7.6 rebounds in support of Evans.

PREDICTION: Texas Tech 85, Kennesaw State 59