The Big 12 Conference unveiled its 18-game men’s basketball league schedule for the upcoming 2017-18 season on Thursday.
Texas Tech will have 16 of its 18 conference games televised by the ESPN family of networks, while the Red Raiders home matchups with Baylor (Dec. 29) and Kansas State (Jan. 6) are scheduled to be picked up regionally by FOX Sports Southwest.
The Big 12 slate features an 18-game, double round-robin format where conference members play each other home and away for the seventh-straight season.
The Red Raiders will start Big 12 action versus Baylor (Dec. 29) at home. It marks the fifth time that Texas Tech will face Baylor to begin Big 12 play. The two teams have split the previous four openers highlighted by a 93-62 rout on Jan. 2, 1999. The 31-point win stands as the Red Raiders largest margin of victory in a Big 12 game.
Texas Tech welcomes Kansas State (Jan. 6), West Virginia (Jan. 13), Oklahoma State (Jan. 23) and Texas (Jan. 31) for January home meetings. The Red Raiders travel to 13-time defending Big 12 champion Kansas (Jan. 2) followed by Oklahoma (Jan. 9), Texas (Jan. 17) and Iowa State (Jan. 20) during January.
Texas Tech meets Iowa State (Feb. 7) and Oklahoma (Feb. 13) in mid-week home matchups to open its February home schedule. The Red Raiders wrap up their home schedule versus Kansas (Feb. 24) and take on defending NIT champion TCU (March 3) in their regular season finale leading into the Big 12 Tournament (March 7-10) at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.
Texas Tech finishes a stretch of five-straight weekends on the road with trips to TCU (Feb. 3), Kansas State (Feb. 10) and Baylor (Feb. 17). The Red Raiders also have road tilts at Oklahoma State (Feb. 21) and West Virginia (Feb. 26) in February.
Texas Tech is led by second-year coach Chris Beard who led the Red Raiders to an 18-14 record last season. The 18 victories are the third-highest total in program history for a coach during his first season. Texas Tech also won a pair of games against Associated Press Top 10 opponents for the time since the 2007-08 season when Beard served as an assistant under Bob and Pat Knight.
The Red Raiders return their Top 4 scorers from Big 12 action last season in Keenan Evans (16.9 PPG), Zach Smith (11.7 PPG), Niem Stevenson (9.2 PPG) and Justin Gray (8.8 PPG). Smith is a two-time All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection whereas Keenan Evans tucked away All-Big 12 Third-Team accolades last season.
Texas Tech brings in a talented class of newcomers. Former Top 100 recruits Brandone Frances and Tommy Hamilton IV practiced with the Red Raiders as transfers last season. Texas Tech also signed National Junior College Athletic Association Junior College (NJCAA) standouts Hyron Edwards and Josh Webster. The Red Raiders freshmen class is sparked by Jarrett Culver, Davide Moretti, Malik Ondigo and Zhaire Smith.
Texas Tech ranked 26th in the nation for the largest average attendance increase between the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. More season tickets have already been sold for 2017-18 than all of last season. Fans are encouraged to purchase season tickets now to reserve the best available seats.
Season tickets are on-sale and feature affordable payment plans for as low as $199. Season tickets can be purchased in person at the Texas Tech Athletics Ticket Office located on the East Side of Jones AT&T Stadium, online at www.TexasTech.com or over the phone at (806) 742-8324. Single-game and mini-plan ticket information will be announced by the Texas Tech Athletics Ticket Office at a later date.
Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the men’s basketball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets by liking TexasTechMBB on Facebook along with following @TexasTechMBB on Twitter and Instagram.
(Courtesy: Texas Tech Sports Communications Department)