Keenan Evans and Zach Smith of the Texas Tech men’s basketball program became the third pair of teammates to capture All-Big 12 Preseason honors announced Thursday by the conference office.

Evans and Smith join Jarrius Jackson and Martin Zeno in 2005-06 along with John Roberson and Mike Singletary in 2010-11 as the only pair of Texas Tech teammates to garner All-Big 12 Preseason awards.

Smith, a two-time All-Big 12 Honorable Mention pick, is the fourth player and first since Jackson in 2006-07 to secure an All-Big 12 Preseason Team nod. He poured in 12.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 1.4 assists per game with his rebounding, blocks and points being ranked inside the Big 12’s Top 20 last season. The Plano Texas native is only player in program history to amass 40-plus blocks during his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons and enters this season 27 blocks shy of Tony Battie’s program record.

Evans came away with All-Big 12 Preseason Honorable Mention after he posted team-leading 15.4 points per game coupled with 3.0 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game. He was an All-Big 12 Third-Team selection last season. The 15.4 points were seventh and 3.0 assists were 15th on the Big 12 leaderboard. Evans capped the 2016-17 season with 20 consecutive games in double figures, the longest for a Texas Tech player since Zeno registered 21 straight games in 2006-07.

The Red Raiders take on Angelo State in an exhibition game on Friday, November 3rd before squaring off with South Alabama on Friday, November 10th. 

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.

Tickets are on-sale and feature an affordable season ticket package that starts at $99. 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.

(Courtesy: Texas Tech Sports Communications Department)