No. 18 Texas Tech faces another tough test vs. Kansas State (Jan 06, 2018)
It's becoming more and more difficult for Texas Tech coach Chris Beard to play the underdog role.
Before this week, No. 18 Texas Tech built the foundation of an NCAA Tournament resume by facing teams on the edge of the Top 25 and knocking them out of the rankings. The Red Raiders pounded then-No. 20 Northwestern by 36 points in November, then in December bumped No. 22 Nevada out of the Top 25 by defeating the Wolf Pack in overtime in Lubbock, Texas.
Last week, Texas Tech opened Big 12 action by hammering Baylor by 24 points, hastening the Bears' exit from the rankings.
But when the Red Raiders (13-1, 2-0 Big 12) posted a forceful 85-73 win at No. 10 Kansas on Tuesday, they significantly raised their profile.
Still, Beard stayed with the underdog narrative in his postgame press conference following the victory over the Jayhawks.
"I don't know if we have an edge on Kansas in anything," Beard said. "Maybe, we have Whataburger in Lubbock, Texas. I don't think y'all do. That's an advantage."
It was hard to tell whether or not Beard was joking. Either way, one Red Raiders fan took him seriously and had a to-go bag from the fast food chain awaiting Beard when the team arrived home early Wednesday morning.
When it came time for Beard to talk about preparations for Saturday's home game against Kansas State in Lubbock, the Texas Tech coach was still deferring to the prowess of the opponent.
"In our league, with all the great players and great coaches, people don't talk about K-State and coach (Bruce) Weber enough," Beard said. "He's one of the best coaches in our game and he has really good players."
Kansas State (11-3, 1-1) doesn't have the same list of impressive wins as Texas Tech this season. But Beard pointed to several Wildcat victories that he believed should raise his team's awareness. Kansas State won road games at Vanderbilt and Washington State in nonconference play, then opened the Big 12 last week by defeating Iowa State by 16 points in Ames, Iowa.
The Red Raiders' strength on offense has been balanced scoring, but Kansas State can do the same thing. The Wildcats have four players averaging in double figures, led by forward Dean Wade and guard Barry Brown at 14.9 points each. Sophomore forward Xavier Sneed kept the Wildcats in the game by hitting six shots from beyond the arc and scoring 20 in a loss to West Virginia on Monday.
Beard said the challenge of facing a Weber-coached team is to maintain discipline on the defensive end.
"I think a big part of this game is patience on defense," Beard said. "I think a lot of times in basketball you associate patience with offense, but you also have to be a patient defense."
Texas Tech opened conference play last week with a home crowd of more than 12,000. It's likely the Wildcats will see an even larger group of Red Raider fans on Saturday.
For the Texas Tech players, though, the task is to stay focused.
"That was a great experience," Texas Tech freshman guard Jarrett Culver said about winning at Kansas. "We celebrated. We've got to move on. It's the Big 12. We've got to keep going, keep working hard and trust the process."
