LAWRENCE, Kan. — Texas Tech's men's basketball team, which defeated Kansas 75-67 on Jan. 8 in Lubbock, Texas, on Monday night will attempt to become just the third Big 12 Conference team to sweep a regular-season home-and-home series from the Jayhawks in the 19-year Bill Self era.
Tipoff for the game between the No. 7-ranked Jayhawks (16-2, 5-1) and No. 18 Red Raiders (15-4, 5-2) is 8 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse (ESPN).
The Red Raiders' quest to join the Texas Longhorns (last season) and Oklahoma State Cowboys (in 2017-18) as the only squads to take two from KU in the same regular-season campaign under Self, would seemingly be bolstered by the return of two of their top three scorers.
Those players — 6-foot-6 junior guards Terrence Shannon and Kevin McCullar — missed the victory over KU 2 1/2 weeks ago because of injury.
Shannon — he scored 23 points in Saturday's 78-65 win over West Virginia in Lubbock — averages a team-leading 12.8 points per game and McCullar, who scored seven points with five boards and four assists versus the Mountaineers, averages 11.6 points, third best mark on the squad.
"It'll be a little bit of a different look with two of their best players coming back," KU junior guard Christian Braun said Saturday after KU's 78-75 victory over Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan. "We're looking to try to string some wins together and move forward in (the) conference."
Self said he's interested to "watch tape" to see how McCullar and Shannon impact the Raiders' overall game.
"I don't think they are changing how they play. They just have a pro in there (Shannon) in addition to how they played against us. Those two kids are good players," Self said.
The duo of Bryson Williams and Clarence Nadolny stepped up in the absence of McCullar and Shannon in the first meeting versus KU.
Williams, a 6-8, 240-pound senior transfer from UTEP, scored 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting with eight rebounds and three assists in 30 minutes. Nadolny, a 6-3 junior from Montreuil, France, scored 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting with three rebounds and three steals in 34 minutes.
Adonis Arms, a 6-5 senior transfer from Winthrop University, was effective as well with eight points, four assists and two boards in 33 minutes.
"They brought all the energy, all the effort, punked us in a sense. That's unacceptable, especially with how Kansas basketball is on the road. We're always the ones bringing the energy," KU redshirt sophomore forward Jalen Wilson said.
Tech outscored KU 44-18 in the paint. Wilson scored 20 points while Ochai Agbaji had 24 points for the Jayhawks, who are 4-0 since that Tech game.
"It was pretty obvious we got outworked," Wilson said. "They (Red Raiders) brought the aggressiveness. Their energy ... the way they were playing was overshadowing us. They were just playing harder. It's harder to bounce back on the road when fans are juiced like they were."
KU trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half in Lubbock.
"They are a really good team defensively. They pride themselves on the defensive end, making it hard to get looks," KU senior guard Agbaji, who scored 29 points in Saturday's 78-75 road win over Kansas State, said of Tech. "They were stepping in and taking charges. They had better composure. They were getting a good shot every time.
"We shied away from being aggressive going downhill. We've got to be aggressive against them, make a play and play defense like we can."
In 128 regular-season Big 12 home and home series with Self as coach, KU has 85 sweeps, 41 splits and has been swept twice.
"The game means a lot to our league race," Self said. "Even though we made it close late (cutting deficit from 14 to four with 1:15 left) they controlled the game in Lubbock. We've got to ind a way to keep them out of the paint and get the ball to the paint. They made our perimeter beat them last time. We didn't do it."
KU hit 10 of 26 threes to Tech's 4 of 16. The Jayhawks were led by Agbaji hit 7 of 12 shots (6-of-9 from three) and Wilson who had 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting (3-of-5 from three).
"They took David (McCormack, four points, six boards) away for the most part. We've got to figure a way to have more balance. I'm sure it will be a pretty geeked up atmosphere (in Allen Fieldhouse)," Self said.
Here's the way the Big 12 standings look entering Monday's game. KU is alone in first place at 5-1, followed by Baylor and Texas Tech (both 5-2), TCU (3-2), Texas (4-3), Oklahoma State (3-4), West Virginia (2-4), Iowa State (2-5), Oklahoma (2-5) and Kansas State (2-5).
KU after the Tech game will be idle until Saturday, when the Jayhawks play Kentucky in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Tipoff for that game is 6 p.m. ET at Allen Fieldhouse.
