Texas Tech @ West Virginia preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 14, 2019 ) West Virginia 79, Texas Tech 74

No. 21 Texas Tech and No. 17 West Virginia have been relying on their defense of late and will try to lock down on that end of the floor when they meet Saturday in Morgantown, W.V. for a Big 12 clash. The Red Raiders fell 57-52 to No. 4 Baylor their last time out, the fourth straight time they've held an opponent under 60 points.

A 37-percent showing from the floor and 5-of-12 effort at the free throw line, however, prevented Texas Tech from being able to pull off the upset. "This is just life in the Big 12, lose by five on your home floor to the No. 4 team in the country on a night where we just didn't do a lot of things well enough to try to find a way to win the game," coach Chris Beard told reporters. The Mountaineers bounced back from a loss to third-ranked Kansas by stifling Oklahoma State in a 55-41 triumph Monday night. Freshman forward Oscar Tshiebwe led a balanced attack with 12 points and West Virginia held the Cowboys to 29.2 percent shooting.

TIME: 6 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN2

ABOUT TEXAS TECH (10-4, 1-1 Big 12): Freshman guard Jahmi'us Ramsey scored 20 points for the second time in his last three games in the loss to Baylor, and he leads the Red Raiders in scoring with 17.7 points per game. Junior guard Davide Moretti comes in next at 12.8 per contest but he was limited to eight while missing all six of his 3-point tries against the Bears. Sophomore guard Kyler Edwards stuffed the stat sheet in the loss with 10 points, a career-high four blocked shots, three assists and two steals.

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA (12-2, 1-1): The Mountaineers lead the Big 12 in field-goal percentage defense (35.7 percent) along with rebounding margin (plus-7.9), and both of those strengths were on display at Oklahoma State. "I thought we did a pretty good job of staying in front of them, we didn't turn them loose much," coach Bob Huggins told the media. "And we rebounded. Pretty much, it was one and done, which really helps, not giving them extra shots." Tshiebwe and sophomore forward Derek Culver rank 1-2 on the team in scoring and rebounding after combining for 21 and 20, respectively, in Monday's win.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Mountaineers senior G Jermaine Haley averages 9.3 points but has a total of five on 2-of-12 shooting over his last two games.

2. Red Raiders senior G Chris Clarke leads his team in rebounding (8.6) and assists (5.9).

3. Texas Tech won both meetings in the regular season in 2018-19 before West Virginia upset the Red Raiders in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament.

PREDICTION: West Virginia 63, Texas Tech 59