Media relations representative Randy Farley confirmed Wednesday afternoon that athletic director Gerald Myers has not yet recieved information regarding the day and time of the game, but expects to host at United Spirit Arena.

Myers anticipates the call to come later Wednesday evening or early Thursday.

Texas Tech was seeded fifth in the NIT after finishing its season 17-15. It traveled to New Jersey for the first round, defeating fourth-seeded Seton Hall 87-69 in Newark, N.J.

Tech will host Jacksonville, which as the No. 8 seed upset No. 1 seeded Arizona State on Tuesday with a buzzer-beating banked 3-point shot.

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In an exclusive interview with the A-J, Myers said he is pleased with the progress the team made, improving on last season’s 14-19 record. Tech exited the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday with an 80-68 loss to No. 1 ranked Kansas, despite leading after 10 minutes and trailing by just two points with six minutes to play. The team is currently 17-15 overall and likely qualifying for the postseason NIT.

“Last year was a tough year, his first year,” Myers said. “We were out-manned most of the time last year. He went out and improved the team with some good recruits, and a lot of those boys are back.”

Knight took over as head coach when his father, Bob Knight, unexpectedly retired midway through the 2007-08 season. Tech finished out that season 4-7 under the first-time head coach.

The Raiders rose to No. 16 in the AP college basketball poll earlier this season, thanks to a 9-0 start including wins against Oregon State and Washington. They finished their nonconference schedule 12-2, including their first road wins in more than a full season (Tech won two neutral site games in 2008-09).

After starting the Big 12 4-5, Tech went on a 7-game losing streak that continued through roadtrips to Nebraska, the last-place team in the conference, and Colorado. Tech recovered in its second game against the Buffs, winning 82-67 Wednesday as the ninth seed playing the eighth seed in the Big 12 tournament’s opening round.

“I like the job Pat’s doing,” Myers said. “He knows how to coach and I’m confident we’ll come back stronger next year with the offseason, all the returning players and some new recruits.”

Myers does want to see an improved post presence in order to better compete against Big 12 players like Kansas’ Cole Aldrich, Texas’ Dexter Pittman and Baylor’s Ekpe Udoh. And he expects continued improvement through next season.

“I’m looking forward to Pat being our coach for a long time,” Myers said.

He missed, and 53 seconds later Kansas guard Brady Morningstar found Sherron Collins, then Xavier Henry, for a pair of 3-pointers to help the Jayhawks pull away for good.

Tech’s 35-minute effort to upset the nation’s top ranked team was done.

Kansas guard Sherron Collins (4) and Texas Tech guard John Roberson (21) dive for the ball during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at the Big 12 tournament Thursday, March 11, 2010, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)

Texas Tech forward Mike Singletary (32) is fouled by Kansas guard Xavier Henry (1) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game at the Big 12 tournament Thursday, March 11, 2010, in Kansas City, Mo. Kansas defeated Texas Tech 80-68. (AP Photo/Amelia C. Warden)

Texas Tech forward Darko Cohadarevic (31) loses the ball in front of Kansas forward Thomas Robinson during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at the Big 12 Conference men's tournament, Thursday, March 11, 2010, in Kansas City, Mo. Kansas won 80-68. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

“We didn’t hit that one shot like Sherron Collins hit,” Texas Tech forward Mike Singletary said. “He hit a big three and had a couple buckets for them. We didn’t knock down those shots tonight. If we had knocked down one of those shots it would have been a different game.”

Now the Red Raiders will wait until Sunday to find out if they’ve played their final game this season. With a 17-15 overall record, Tech is a strong candidate for the NIT.

Despite leading briefly in the first half and coming within two points after Roberson’s breakaway layup, the Red Raiders (17-15) exited the Big 12 tournament with an 80-68 loss to the Jayhawks (30-2). Collins scored 19 points and had six assists for KU.

“I hate how the score ended up,” Roberson said. “We lost by 12 but we were in there the whole game. We were right there. I just wish we could have hit some shots.”

Tech shot 40 percent for the game, but went 2-of-9 from the field in the final 5:22. That allowed a Kansas to go on a 12-0 run that helped close out its victory.

After spending a week studying Colorado’s complicated Princeton offense, Tech had less than 24 hours to prepare to face Kansas in the second round of the Big 12 tournament. The Jayhawks, who finished the conference regular season in first place, earned a first-round bye in the tournament and had not played a game since Saturday.

Tech watched one tape highlighting KU’s personnel and completed a one-hour walkthrough a few hours after Wednesday’s 82-67 win against Colorado. Coach Pat Knight said rather than teaching the team a detailed gameplan for taking down the Jayhawks, the coaching staff emphasized effective execution of its basic offensive and defensive plans.

“We didn’t really change our plan from the first time we played them,” Knight said. “Back off the guy up top, clog up the middle, fight them in the post, get in the passing lane. That was it.”

Knight told forward Darko Cohadarevic not to post up against KU center Cole Aldrich, but instead to aim for short jump shots. That offensive adjustment helped Cohadarevic score 14 points on 7-of-12 field goal shooting, his highest numbers since the Big 12 season began.

Roberson also scored 14 points for the Raiders, while D’walyn Roberts, Mike Singletary and Nick Okorie had 11 each.

Cohadarevic played just 14 minutes against Colorado, and reserve forward Robert Lewandowski, who averages 10 minutes per game, never left the bench. But with Aldrich averaging 11.3 points and 9.7 rebounds per game, Tech kept a big man at his side all game.

Aldrich finished with 18 rebounds and 12 points, his 14th double-double of the season.

“He’s a great player, on a great team, and they did a great job of looking for him in the post,” Lewandowski said. “We were constantly fighting him, making him move as much as we moved on defense.”

Tech lost 89-63 when the teams met in Lawrence, Kan., on Jan. 16.

The Raiders held the Jayhawks to 35.7 percent field goal shooting in the first half, and even led 15-14 when Lewandowski made a layup midway through the half.

Kansas took a 10-point lead with 17:38 to go and had it at 11 with 12:37 remaining, but Tech chipped it down until Collins hit that first 3-pointer.

“He hit that 3-pointer to put them up five, and that was the dagger,” Roberson said. “We couldn’t come back after that.”

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John Roberson has 12 points on four 3-point baskets to lead the Red Raiders. D’walyn Roberts has a game-high 4 rebounds.

Two Buffs are in double-figures: Alec Burks had 11 points and Marcus Relphorde has 10.

The winner of this game will face No. 1 seeded Kansas tomorrow at 11:30 a.m.

OK, not exactly. But he did write a phrase in Cyrillic letters across the toe box of each shoe.

“It says ‘Fight for your dreams,’” Cohadarevic said. “And below it says ‘Young bull.’ That’s a joke between me and Mike Davis.”

Cohadarevic is Texas Tech’s 6-foot-9 forward with a personality as big as his wingspan. He’s as well known among Tech basketball fans for his emotion in practice as his actions in games. As outspoken as he’s been the past two seasons, the Serbian senior has a lot more to say.

Avalanche-Journal: So tell me the story about “Young Bull.”
Darko Cohadarevic: Coach (Chris) Beard told us a story about young bulls and old bulls. He said we cannot be like young bulls, rushing and stuff. We’ve got to be like old bulls. Calm. Since then I call Mike Davis Young Bull since he’s a freshman, and he liked it enough that he put “Young Bull” on his shoes in English, so I put it on mine in Serbian. But I’m an old bull. I’m about to be 24 on March 7.

A-J: Well, happy birthday.
DC: I’m an old man. I came to college when I was 19 years old. I took a break for a year after high school.

A-J: So what is the secret to really booting the basketball into the balcony?
DC: Is that connected with the word “Punt?”

A-J: Sure, punt.
DC: One day Coach told me, “Darko, OK, let me see how far you can punt the ball.” I was like, “Punt? What is punt?” And since then when I’m in the office everybody’s like, “What is punt, Darko?”

I was a goalie for four years before I started playing basketball. Then one summer I grew like six inches and this guy told me I should switch to basketball instead of soccer. But when you practice soccer your quads get so strong. You can do such things. I think any soccer player can do that, especially if you’re a goalie, because that’s exactly what a goalie does every day.

A-J: Would you still be a soccer player if you hadn’t grown those six inches?
DC: Yeah, a couple years ago I was thinking about going back to soccer. I had people asking me if I wanted to come back, because I’m 6-9 and have a 7-1 wingspan. People thought I could go straight to the pros. But I didn’t want to because I like basketball.

A-J: Do you get more distance kicking it or throwing it?
DC: Kicking it, probably. But I can throw it the whole length of the court.

A-J: Have you ever used that in a game? A full-court alley-oop perhaps?
DC: Not here, but that’s what we did on my team before I came to the States. Coaches were forcing the pass after a defensive rebound, whoever got it we had guards who just ran the sidelines and we just threw full-court passes all day. That’s how we won games.

A-J: Do you and Pat Knight have similar personalities?
DC: You could say that. He’s passionate, he wants it done his way; he’s stubborn, and I am too. It was a problem a couple times, because we do have the same personality, but we solved it.

A-J: About how many people in Lubbock do you think speak Serbian?
DC: I would have to say 10. I know only one girl who goes here, she’s from Dallas, but is a native Serbian. I’ve heard about some other people. But I would say maybe 10 at the most.

A-J: Do you ever feel isolated because there’s no Serbian community here?
DC: Not really, because once you have a goal you just make that your focus. My family, we were talking about it the other day how I come home only once a year. But if I came here for four years and never went home even once, I wouldn’t care because I know I would finish college and become a good basketball player. I’m not homesick.

A-J: Is there anywhere in town to get Serbian food?
DC: There is one place, my apartment, when I make it. Actually, people would be surprised how much American food is really Serbian food. My family in Kansas, they used to make shish kabobs and stuffed peppers, stew, and that’s all Serbian food. There’s not much difference. And I really like the food here in America.

A-J: OK, what are your final words of wisdom? Parting thoughts?
DC: Hmmm…Never let anybody tell you what you can do or cannot do. If you think you can do something, or that you cannot do something, you’re right. Whatever you have in your mind, I believe you can have it in your hand.

A-J: That’s really deep, Darko.
DC: Yep. It is.

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TEXAS TECH 70

FG FT REB

Min. M-A M-A O T PF A TP

Singletary 36 4-12 2-4 1 5 1 0 11

Reese 19 3-5 0-0 0 4 2 0 7

Lewandowski 22 2-5 0-3 2 5 4 2 4

Okorie 28 4-6 2-2 0 3 3 3 10

Roberson 38 4-9 0-0 0 4 3 12 9

Tairu 15 5-8 0-0 0 1 3 1 13

Davis 18 4-4 0-0 0 0 4 2 8

Jenkins 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Cohadarevic 14 1-2 4-4 1 3 5 1 6

Roberts 6 1-2 0-0 2 2 2 0 2

1 2 Totals 200 28-53 8-13 7 29 27 21 70

TEXAS A&M 85

FG FT REB

Min. M-A M-A O T PF A TP

Davis 25 5-8 5-12 4 7 3 0 15

Harris 33 3-9 1-2 1 4 0 3 7

Holmes 32 0-6 2-2 0 2 1 3 2

Sloan 35 8-14 12-14 1 5 0 1 28

Walkup 11 2-4 0-0 1 1 3 0 5

Lewis 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Loubeau 30 9-14 1-2 5 9 2 3 19

Turner 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Middleton 15 2-5 0-0 2 2 3 3 5

Hibbert 17 2-4 0-0 0 0 1 1 4

5 7 Totals 200 31-64 21-32 19 37 13 14 85

Texas Tech 36 34 – 70

Texas A&M 41 44 _ 85

Records: Texas Tech 14-7, 2-5 in Big 12, Texas A&M 14-6, 5-2. Shooting percentages: Texas Tech 52.8% FG, 42.9% 3-pt. FG, 61.5% FT; Texas A&M 48.4% FG, 12.5% 3-pt. FG, 65.6% FT. 3-point goals: Texas Tech 6-14 (Tairu 3-4, Reese 1-2, Roberson 1-3, Singletary 1-4, Okorie 0-1), Texas A&M 2-16 (Middleton 1-1, Walkup 1-2, Hibbert 0-2, Sloan 0-3, Harris 0-3, Holmes 0-5). Steals: Texas Tech 2 (Reese, Okorie), Texas A&M 7 (Harris 3, Loubeau 2, Davis, Sloan). Blocked shots: Texas Tech 4 (Lewandowski 3, Okorie), Texas A&M 7 (Davis 4, Middleton 2, Loubeau). Turnovers: Texas Tech 13 (Roberson 4), Texas A&M 4 (Sloan 2). Technical fouls: None. Officials: Mike Thibodeaux, Randy Heimerman, Terry Moore. Attendance: 13,648.

For the first time since beginning its affiliation with the Southwest and Big 12 conferences in 1960, the Red Raiders will conclude the regular season with a pair of non-conference games. Tech hosts Weber State, a member of the Football Championship Subdivision, on Nov. 20 and then faces Houston in a home game on Nov. 27.

The finishing kick marks the only time Tech will play back-to-back home games in 2010.

Jones AT&T Stadium will play host to one other non-conference game, the season opener against SMU on Sept. 4, and then Tech makes its first trip to Albuquerque, N.M., since 2004 to face New Mexico. Tech will host Big 12 games against Texas, Oklahoma State and Missouri.

The game against the Longhorns, scheduled for Sept. 18, will be broadcast on one of the ABC/ESPN network channels. Because the Texas game was moved up to the third week in September for the second year in a row, a previously scheduled game against TCU will be included on a future schedule.

The Red Raiders, who will play conference road games at Iowa State, Colorado, Texas A&M and Oklahoma, have their only bye after the bout with the Longhorns. Tech will face Baylor at the Cotton Bowl during the State Fair of Texas on Oct. 9.

Only one of the Red Raiders’ five games in October will be played at home, but three of their four November games will be held in Lubbock.

TEXAS TECH 2010 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Sept. 4, vs. SMU
Sept. 11, at New Mexico
Sept. 18, vs. Texas*
Oct. 2, at Iowa State*
Oct. 9, vs. Baylor at Cotton Bowl, Dallas*
Oct. 16, vs. Oklahoma State*
Oct. 23, at Colorado*
Oct. 30, at Texas A&M*
Nov. 6, vs. Missouri*
Nov. 13, at Oklahoma*
Nov. 20, vs. Weber State
Nov. 27, vs. Houston

*-Big 12 Conference game

In a 69-40 victory against Savannah State, Texas Tech women’s basketball broke a school record by turning the ball over just two times in the game.

The previous record was five, accomplished twice in Tech history. The Lady Raiders turned the ball over five times against Texas A&M on Jan. 31, 1983, and again against Texas-San Antonio on Nov. 14, 2003.

Tech entered the game with the most turnovers in the Big 12 Conference and an average of 20.2 per game.

On Saturday, the Lady Raiders turned the ball over just once per half.

“We’ve been averaging too many turnovers a game and once we get to Big 12 Conference (play) that’s going to hurt us,” said Jordan Murphree, who scored a game-high 16 points, including four 3-pointers.

Tech (12-2) will open conference play on the road against Oklahoma on Saturday.

Nine Lady Raiders scored, with three in double figures. Ashlee Roberson, who was left out of the starting lineup for undisclosed disciplinary reasons, scored 14 points. Chynna Brown came off the bench and tacked on a career-high 13 points.

Tech has struggled against zone defenses this season, but showed resilience against the Lady Tigers (8-9).

“I brought as much energy as I could,” Brown said. “Most of all just tried to remember each player if they go left or right, matching up each player from the scouting report and being aggressive.”

Despite the quality of Tech’s offensive and defensive effort, the Lady Tigers kept the game close through most of the first half.

Savannah State was down just two points when Courtney Long sunk a layup at the 4:56 mark to put the Tigers down 27-25.

Long scored a team-high 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting.

But it was all Lady Raiders the rest of the way.

Five different players scored for Tech to close out the half on a 10-0 run. Tech entered the break with a 37-25 lead and didn’t slow down.

Murphree and Tilmila Martin hit 3-pointers in the early part of the second half. Within five minutes, Tech had built its lead to 20.

The Lady Raiders showed improvement in every area where Curry wants growth. Even though they were out-rebounded overall, they snared more offensive rebounds than the Lady Tigers.

Jordan Barncastle had a lot to do with that. She swatted several missed shots back to the key that Tech guards were able to grab before resetting the offense.

“It’s not something that we teach,” Curry said of Barncastle’s rebound passes. “I think she was just trying to be aggressive, and when you’re aggressive good things happen. I’d rather see her grab it and go back up with it. But if she can’t grab it, at least she’s just trying to put forth some effort to get it.”

The overall performance was one the Lady Raiders hope to replicate in the coming weeks during the conference season. 

 “I definitely think we proved tonight that we can hold teams under 40 and limit our turnovers, and I thought we shot the ball well,” Murphree said. “I think that’s a good start or us going into Big 12 Conference.”

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