Lubbock, Texas ? Texas Tech hopes the power of positive thinking works tonight against No. 7-ranked Kansas.
The unranked, lightly-regarded Red Raiders (6-5), who lost nine straight games to open the Big 12 season last year en route to a 3-13 league record, will begin the 2001 conference campaign against the No. 7 Jayhawks (11-1).
Tipoff is 8:05 p.m. at United Spirit Arena. The game will be shown live on channel 4.
“We’re taking the approach that somebody has to open with Kansas, so why not us, and why can’t we come out and do what we can to win?” Texas Tech coach James Dickey said.
The Red Raiders are expecting a huge crowd if not a sellout at their 15,050-seat arena, which opened two seasons ago.
“We hope we get a lot more people in here to breathe down Kansas’ necks a little,” said Tech guard Mikey Marshall, who averages 3.2 points a game and is one of four contributing freshmen. “We’re going to come out fired up anyway, but any help we can get is going to be a plus.”
Texas Tech has played KU tough in Lubbock before.
Two years ago, Rayford Young scored 41 points 35 in the second half as the Raiders rallied to a 90-84 victory. In 1997, KU trailed by 14 points at halftime before rallying for an 86-77 win, despite a 29-point outing by Tony Battie.
“We know they’re going to remember what happened here two years ago, but we also have to use that to our advantage,” Dickey said.
KU coach Roy Williams will never forget what happened in Lubbock before.
“We’ve had two wild basketball games with them at their place,” Williams said. “In 1997, they were ranked in the top 10 and I remember talking to their athletics director before the game. He said, ‘I never thought I’d see this in Lubbock, Texas. People are out there scalping tickets for a basketball game.’
“The next time, Rayford just goes crazy the second half and puts on as good a show as anybody I’ve seen against one of our clubs. Hopefully we’ll not face anything like what Rayford did to us. I’ll take another wild game. I’ll like it better if we end up ahead by one more point.”
The Jayhawks face the challenge of slowing Tech big men Andy Ellis and Andre Owens.
Ellis, a 6-foot-11, 225-pound junior, averages 17.2 points and 6.5 rebounds. He has hit 48 percent of his shots. Owens, a 6-8 senior, averages 13.9 points and 7.4 boards.
“Andy Ellis and the Owens youngster give them two bona fide post players who can also step out on the court and do damage farther than two or three feet,” Williams said. “I know it’ll be a challenge for our guys. This is one of the times we’ll be facing people that we look eyeball to eyeball with in the post.”
Owens and Ellis were out with injuries last year when KU beat Tech, 87-62, at Allen Fieldhouse.
“They are obviously one of the top teams in our conference and in the country, but we have to look at this game as a good measuring stick for us,” Ellis said. “If we can come out and play smart and play hard for 40 minutes, we think we have a chance to win. We’re not going to be intimidated by anybody.”
The Jayhawks also face an outside threat in freshman Marcus Shropshire, who has hit nine threes in the past three games. Junior Jamal Brown averages 10.4 points. Brown has hit 15 of 56 threes.
“This is the part of the season where you make or break the rest of the season. We really have to be focused on getting off to a good start because we’ve stumbled too many times in the nonconference schedule,” Owens said.
Texas Tech has lost to UAB, UTEP, Ball State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and TCU. The Red Raiders have beaten Prairie View A&M, Louisiana Lafayette, Stephen F. Austin, Western Michigan, Oral Roberts and New Mexico State.
“Games like this are what make the Big 12 special,” Dickey said. “We know we’ve got to play four ranked teams during the Big 12 season, but every game in this league is a battle.”
Beating Kansas would be an eye-opener.
“Playing Kansas adds to the motivation of opening the conference because of all the tradition they have and how well prepared they’ll be,” said senior swingman Jayson Mitchell, who averages 7.9 points per game. “When we beat them here before, that was one of my best memories on the basketball court. I’m sure they remember what happened, too, though, so we have to come out ready to play.”
KU will not take the Raiders lightly, Kansas sophomore Nick Collison says.
“I think they’ll be tough. They have good big guys and athletic perimeter players. In the league they are all tough,” he said.
The Jayhawks won’t play again until next Saturday at Oklahoma.
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