🏀 Game Preview: at No. 14/14 Texas Tech

LAWRENCE, Kan. – No. 5/5 Kansas (6-1, 0-0) men’s basketball will open Big 12 play at No. 14/14 Texas Tech (6-1, 0-0) on Thursday, Dec. 17, at 6 p.m. (Central). The game will be televised on ESPN with Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas calling the action.

Kansas has won six straight games after its 95-50 win against Omaha on Dec. 11 in Allen Fieldhouse. KU’s Dec. 13 contest against Tarleton State was canceled due to COVID within the Tarleton State program. Texas Tech has won four-consecutive games after its 77-57 win versus Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 12. The Red Raiders are 5-0 at home in the United Supermarkets Arena this season.

Kansas leads the overall series with Texas Tech, 37-6, which began in 1959. The Jayhawks have won 19 of the last 21 meetings in the series beginning Jan. 16, 2010, but KU holds just a slight 4-2 edge in the last six meetings. Kansas is 15-5 against Texas Tech in games played in Lubbock, including a 11-4 record in United Supermarkets Arena.

Since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1997, Kansas is 30-6 against Texas Tech; 27-6 in regular-season match-ups and 3-0 in conference championship meetings. Kansas head coach Bill Self is 24-8 all-time against Texas Tech, including 23-5 while at Kansas. Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard is 2-6 against Kansas.

KANSAS NOTABLES

Kansas has won six-straight games since losing its season opener to #1 Gonzaga and is coming off a 95-50 win against Omaha on Dec. 11 in Allen Fieldhouse. Texas Tech has won its last four games after its 77-57 win against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 12.
Kansas has won 29-straight conference openers dating back to the 1991-92 season, with 12 of those at home and 17 on the road. The last time KU lost a league opener was at Oklahoma, 88-82, on Jan. 8, 1991. Texas Tech will be the fourth ranked team Kansas will play so far in 2020-21. The Jayhawks are 2-1 versus ranked foes this season.
Through seven games, Kansas has had five different players lead the team in scoring and six in steals. This includes ties for the team high.
Kansas has been ranked in each of the last 224 Associated Press polls dating back to 2008-09. The 224-consecutive weeks in the AP poll is an all-time record, surpassing UCLA’s 221 from 1966-80. KU holds the same streak in the coaches’ poll at 230.
Kansas has been ranked in the top 10 in each of the last 23 Associated Press polls dating back the first poll of the 2019-20 season.
Kansas’ last six losses have been to ranked foes, with three of those in the top five.
Redshirt-freshman forward Jalen Wilson has led KU in scoring three of the last five games posting double-doubles against two ranked foes – No. 20 Kentucky (23 points, 10 rebounds) and No. 8 Creighton (23 points, 10 rebounds). His 8.7 rebound average ranks eighth nationally among NCAA Division I freshmen.
This season, Kansas men’s basketball will be wearing a patch that reads “UNITED WE STAND” signifying its stance on the recent social injustice in the United States. The patch has gold lettering with the black background being in the shape of the state of Kansas.

UP NEXT

Kansas returns to Allen Fieldhouse to host No. 8/11 West Virginia on Tuesday, Dec. 22. The game will start at 8 p.m. (Central) and will be televised on ESPN2.