LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech will continue its way through the first rounds of the Big 12 gauntlet by hosting West Virginia at 6 pm on Wednesday at the United Supermarkets Arena.
The Red Raiders (10-9, 0-7 Big 12) are coming off a 68-58 loss at No. 13 Kansas State, while the Mountaineers (11-8, 1-6 Big 12) took a 69-61 home loss to No. 10 Texas during Saturday’s games. Tech, which won both matchups against WVU last season, is currently 8-3 on its home court this season where it is averaging 13,367 fans which ranks 18th nationally and second within the Big 12.
Kevin Obanor leads the Red Raiders this season with 14.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game after going for nine points and eight rebounds at KSU. Obanor has played 56 games at Tech over the past two seasons and in 142 during his career. A fifth-year senior, he has 1,956 points and 1,008 rebounds in his career. Virginia’s Jayden Gardner and LSU’s KJ Williams are the only active players currently with over 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. Tech freshman Pop Isaacs and senior De’Vion Harmon led Tech with 13 points each at KSU while Jaylon Tyson had eight points and seven rebounds. Tyson was coming off his first two double-doubles of his career against Texas and Baylor while Fardaws Aimaq provided six points and six rebounds in his third game back from a foot injury that had him out the first 16 games of the season. Daniel Batcho is sixth in the Big 12 in rebounding and second with 1.9 blocks per game. He had six points, four rebounds and one block against KSU.
Tech led the Wildcats by a 33-28 margin at halftime but are now 0-3 in Big 12 games when leading at the break and 0-7 against ranked opponents. WVU will be the first unranked opponent for the Red Raiders in the past four games. Tech, which went 18-0 at home last season with a 9-0 Big 12 mark, was on a 29-game home winning streak before opening Big 12 play with home losses to Kansas, Oklahoma and Baylor.
Isaacs is averaging 12.1 points and has made 47 3-pointers for the season and leads Tech by averaging 15.8 points per game in Big 12 play. He has scored in double figures in a career-best seven straight games and has made 11 3-pointers over the past three games – including hitting five 3-pointers at Texas in a game where he scored 23 points. Isaacs was 3-for-11 on 3s at KSU, including hitting a halftime buzzer beater to give Tech a 33-28 lead through 20 minutes. A freshman from Las Vegas, he is currently 47-for-125 (37.6 percent) on 3-pointers this season with nine games where he has made three or more 3-pointers.
Harmon has now scored 1,158 points through 110 games, while Aimaq is at 1,086 points and 938 rebounds in 86 career games. Harmon and Aimaq are both in their first seasons at Tech after three seasons in other programs – Harmon at Oklahoma (2) and Oregon (1) and Aimaq at Mercer (1) and Utah Valley (2). Aimaq is averaging 10.0 points and 6.7 rebounds in three games at Tech, including having 12 points and nine rebounds against Baylor last Tuesday. Harmon turned 22 years old on Sunday.
WVU is led by Tre Mitchell who is averaging 13.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game after transferring from Texas last season, while Erik Stevenson is at 12.9 points per game and Kedrian Johnson is scoring 10.7 ppg. and leads the team with 57 assists. Emmitt Matthews gave WVU four double-figure scorers with 10.1 ppg. from the starting lineup and Joe Toussaint leads the reserves with 9.9 ppg. with 18 games off the bench and one start. A fifth-year senior from Dallas, Johnson led WVU with 22 points against Texas on Saturday night after making three 3-pointers and seven free throws. He began his career at Temple College before transferring to WVU. Mitchell added eight rebounds and 12 points in the loss to the Longhorns in 40 minutes of play.
WVU leads the all-time series by a 16-8 margin over Tech with the series even at 5-5 in games played in Lubbock. Tech swept the series last season, including earning a 78-65 win on January 22, 2022 in Lubbock. The series is even at 5-5 over the past 10 matchups and will take place again this season on February 18 in Morgantown.
The Red Raiders will venture outside of conference play for the final time in the regular season this weekend with a Big 12-SEC Challenge trip to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to play LSU at 1 pm inside the Maravich Center. Tech earned a 76-71 win over the Tigers on January 30, 2021 in the last matchup between the two teams.