The men’s college basketball season is upon us.
Texas Tech will know its non-conference opponents after releasing its non-conference schedule on Monday, which includes a 13-contest slate – with eight home games, a trip to Hawaii to play in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, a neutral-site showdown in Houston and Big 12 -SEC Challenge game against LSU in Baton Rouge.
Television designations and game times will be announced when available, while the Big 12 Conference schedule is expected to be announced at a later date.
Tech’s non-conference schedule: Northwestern State (Nov. 7), Texas Southern (Nov. 10), Louisiana Tech (Nov. 14), three games at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational – opener with Creighton (Nov. 21-23), Georgetown (Nov. 30 Nov.), Nicholls (Dec. 7), Eastern Washington (Dec. 13), Jackson State (Dec. 17 – at Texas Southern), Houston Baptist (Dec. 21), South Carolina State (Dec. 27) and at LSU (Jan. 28).
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The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported seven of those contests after Tech Tech awarded contracts for seven of those games to AJ last week in response to an open records request. The only addition was the Dec. 17 contest against Jackson State, which will be played at Texas Southern in Houston.
The Red Raiders are coming off a season in which they advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and secured an 18-0 mark at United Supermarkets Arena – tied for the best home record in the nation.
Under head coach Mark Adams, in his first season, Tech led the nation in defensive efficiency and went 27-10 overall after picking up wins over Montana State and Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament. Tech ended its season with a 78-73 loss to Duke in a Sweet 16 game in San Francisco.
It should be noted that the Red Raiders are set to face Louisiana Tech, who is led by Talvin Hester – a former assistant at Texas Tech last season before returning to Ruston, Louisiana.
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In the highest-profile portion of the non-conference slate, Texas Tech is scheduled to travel to Hawaii after playing Louisiana Tech to compete in the Nov. 21-23 Maui Jim Maui Invitational.
The Red Raiders are scheduled to open against Creighton in the first game of the tournament, which is in its 39th year and is being played at the Lahaina Civic Center on the island of Maui. The field also includes: Arkansas, Arizona, Cincinnati, Louisville, Ohio State and San Diego State.
Single-game tickets for Red Raider Basketball home games will go on sale later this fall, with more information to be released at a later date.
Texas Tech Women’s Soccer
Macy Blackburn was named to the preseason All-Big 12 team on Monday.
The honor comes a year after Blackburn, a defenseman, was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team, the Midwest All-Region Second Team and the TopDrawerSoccer.com All-Freshman Second Team. She was also invited to the USA U20 training camp.
Last season, the defender started all 19 games she featured in and logged just over 1,500 minutes, playing the full 90 minutes or more 11 times.
The Keller, Texas native led the Red Raiders with nine assists, including a season-high two assists against Abilene Christian and Oklahoma. She scored 11 points, which was third on the team, and scored her first collegiate goal against ACU.
Her 0.47 assists per game ranked fourth in the conference, while her nine assists tied for sixth.
Blackburn and the rest of the Red Raiders open the season with a 7:00 p.m. game Thursday against Troy at the John Walker Soccer Complex.