Raiders brace for hostile crowd
Texas Tech basketball knows there’s no place like home.
Too bad the Red Raiders are packing their bags next week for yet another road game.
No. 23 Tech heads to Albuquerque, N.M., on Tuesday to face the 12-1 New Mexico Lobos in what promises to be its toughest test of the non-conference season. New Mexico is ranked No. 13 nationally and known for its particularly hostile home court.
“We were there our freshman year and it was a pretty tough game,” point guard John Roberson said. “They’re loud and they get on you. They know everything about you. They know your mom’s name.”
Tech lost 80-63 in New Mexico’s Pit on Dec. 15, 2007. Forward Mike Singletary came off the bench to score 25 points, with Roberson and Trevor Cook adding 12 each.
Singletary and Roberson are back this season with memories of that game, including a first half where the Lobos fired a perfect 6-for-6 from the 3-point line.
More than the score, they remember the 16,720 fans who assailed opposing players with insults and surrounded the home team with energy.
Tech jumped to 9-0 to start this season because it learned how to fend off hostile fans. The Raiders came back from deficits at Stephen F. Austin and TCU to win their first two off-site games of the season; they hadn’t won on the road in nearly two years.
But Stephen F. Austin’s arena was only half-full because the students were on Thanksgiving break. And close to half of the TCU crowd wore red and cheered for the Raiders.
In front of a sell-out crowd at Wichita State, however, Tech fell behind 14 points in the first half and couldn’t quite make it back, losing 85-83 to the Shockers.
“I think the Wichita State game is going to help us for the game in Albuquerque,” Tech coach Pat Knight said. “We’ve got to be prepared for the Big 12.”
That, more than anything, is Knight’s reason for scheduling games at schools he knows national pundits expect Big 12 teams to beat. Losing to the Shockers of the Missouri Valley Conference hurt, but not as badly as a blowout defeat in conference could.
Neither Knight nor anyone else could have anticipated Tuesday’s game becoming a battle of Top 25 programs. Among the Lobos’ dozen wins are games at Hawaii and against California and Texas A&M.
Their sole loss of the season came on Tuesday at Oral Roberts where New Mexico shot just 37.3 percent from the field and the Golden Eagles built a 14-point lead the Lobos couldn’t recover from.
Sound familiar?
“We know that’s going to be a huge game for us,” Singletary said. “Both of us are ranked, and they’re higher than us.”
Knight knows his team could slip from the Top 25 depending on where it is ranked when the new poll comes out Monday and what happens in The Pit. He wants to keep Tech in the Top 25 as long as possible, knowing it will be a big boost come Selection Sunday.
Losing at New Mexico would make defeating McNeese State and UTEP in Tech’s final non-conference home games even more important. Despite that pressure, though, Knight would rather risk another tough road test than start conference play without that experience.
“The team that can do well at home and sneak a couple away on the road is going to be in the hunt for one of the (Big 12’s) six or seven spots,” Knight said. “I can’t take these guys in there playing cupcakes, road games that aren’t hostile. That’s what’s good about playing in Wichita and Albuquerque. It’s going to be a Big 12 environment.”
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Man I hate new Mexico, they have no lives over there
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Should be an exciting game. Is it on TV?
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THis would be a game that Tech needs to win before they go into conference plus theyre is a lot of High School talent in New Mexico, Hobbs and Roswell, Artesia to mention a few, Tech definately has the talent to win or play with anyone in the country and they will be playing in lotsof hostile envoirments when League play starts, Texas, Am , Baylor,etc.. GO TECH!!!!!
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dallas tech fan, you mean that former province of techsas? yup, those folks have a different muscle between their ears!!! not to mention what a CRAPPY, low-life town alburquerque has become… geez, bars on everything/everywhere!!! reminds me of military drive in S.A.
GUNZ UP!!!!!
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Lobos are going to kick our butts. They were up 18 at A&M with 12 mins left to go. Never should have scheduled this game!
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RaiderMan, you are giving a&m too much credit, and NM lost to Oral Roberts. I’d say we have a good shot at winning if we can score consistently throughout the game. That’s what killed us against Wichita State (poor shooting in the 1st half). Yes, it will be a hostile environment in NM as they would love the chance to upset Tech. Go Raiders!
Wreck ‘em Tech
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RaiderMan,
Gotta disagree with you. From the perspective of a coach (DFW area), NM will be a tough win, but not at all impossible. Yes, they are good, but not unbeatable – no one is. IMHO, A&M is not as good this year as the past couple. However, don’t knock Oral Roberts. They are a pretty decent BB team with a couple of good wins. The key to this game, as well as conference games, will be consistent play and agressive defense. A tough-nosed agressive defense covers those stretches of offensive malaise that are practically inevitable in most every game, often referred to as opponent runs. I wouldn’t be overly concerned with Tech’s offensive. If Tech continues to improve defensively, they will be a salty Big 12 team. Just a sports observation from 22 years of experience.
Good luck Raiders – get after the Lobos!
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TV?
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i think cbs
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First UNM is going to beat ya’ll and then UTEP will come in and knock you out off the rankings.
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Being behind enemy lines, stationed in Albuquerque, I have seen plenty of UNM games. Creighton and ORU had the gameplan figured out: very agressive, hack and slap perimeter defense – that’s what caused the low New Mexico shooting percentage. If you can “wear the other guy’s shorts” defensively, you can win the game. That takes some tough athletes, and a deep enough team to survive some foul trouble. But that’s the key to beating the Lobos. They are a very good shooting team, with improved, but still inconsistant post play from Hardeman and Brown. They look first to the longball, then penetration from Hobson, their big gun. They don’t really want to come inside. Rough them up so they shoot poorly, and you’ve got a shot to win on the road in a tough place. But Tech will have to bring the “A” game, even if they can rough up Lobo shooters.
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is this game on TV?
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CBC-CS
It’s the college station CBS channel (I had to do some searching)
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Anybody know Nick Okorie’s status for the game?
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“Yes, it will be a hostile environment in NM as they would love the chance to upset Tech ” ???
To UPSET Tech? NM is not only more highly ranked, but will likely be a double digit favorite!
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Actually, not quite, but close.
9:00 549 Texas Tech
550 New Mexico -8.5
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“Being behind enemy lines, stationed in Albuquerque, I have seen plenty of UNM games. Creighton and ORU had the gameplan figured out: very agressive, hack and slap perimeter defense – that’s what caused the low New Mexico shooting percentage.”
Sodman – I think you’re right. The other thing is that the Lobos’ mental state has been off a little since beating the Aggies and getting the national ranking. Lobos play better as the under dog.
However, I think that ORU game was a wake up call, and the Lobos should win in the PIT.
“dallas tech fan, you mean that former province of techsas.”
No noel – NM was never a province of Texsucks. And NM was colonized first!!!
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Texas Tech
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I hope that tech stomps New Mexico into the ground and shows that the Big 12 still rules. Im stuck here in Albuquerque and it sucks to watch second rate conferences such as the Mountain West and the WAC. Tech will win because they are a smarter team than UNM. Probably a smarter school since they let everyone in the New Mexico prison system get a college degree. GO TECH
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Like I said UNM is going to beat ya’ll first then UTEP will handle ya’ll next year (1/3/10). Me and my hubby have money on this game. I went to UTEP and he’s from Plainview, TX (his money is on TTU) and we live in El Paso. Make momma some money UTEP (and just the right to call him a loser). Go Miners!
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