West Virginia @ Texas Tech preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 4, 2019 ) West Virginia 50, Texas Tech 81

After an historic weekend that featured the program's first regular-season Big 12 Conference regular-season title and first in any league since winning the Southwest Conference title in 1996, No. 6 Texas Tech turns its complete attention to the conference tournament. The Red Raiders seek a 10th consecutive win when they play 10th-seeded West Virginia in the quarterfinals on Thursday at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

Texas Tech, which is the second seed in the tournament due to tiebreakers after tying Kansas State with a 15-3 record, finished the regular season leading the nation by limiting opponents to only 36.8 percent shooting and second by holding teams to 58.6 points per game. The offense is spearheaded by sophomore Jarrett Culver, who was named the first Big 12 Conference Player of the Year in program history after leading the team in scoring (18.3 points; third in Big 12) rebounding (6.2) and assists (3.6). The Mountaineers advanced Wednesday with a 72-71 win over Oklahoma, when Sooners guard Christian James' shot at the buzzer was initially ruled a 3-pointer but changed to a 2-pointer after instant replay concluded his right toe was on the line. The Red Raiders edged the Mountaineers 62-59 on Jan. 2 and posted a staggering 81-50 home triumph on Feb. 4, but West Virginia leads the all-time series 12-5 and knocked out Texas Tech in the conference semis last year.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2

ABOUT TEXAS TECH (26-5): Culver, who is eight points shy of becoming the first player to reach 1,000 points as a freshman-sophomore in program history, scored a career-high 31 points on 12-of-19 shooting Saturday in an 80-73 road triumph in the regular-season finale at Iowa State. Sophomore guard Davide Moretti, who was named an All-Big 12 Conference Third Team selection after leading the nation in free-throw percentage (93.3, 84-for-90), scored 20 points against the Cyclones and is 25-of-39 from the arc and 33-of-34 from the line during the Red Raiders' winning streak. Senior Tariq Owens (8.6 points, 5.7 rebounds) finished the regular season second in the conference and 10th nationally with a Texas Tech single-season record of 75 blocked shots, while grad transfer Matt Mooney adds 10.9 points, 3.2 assists and 1.7 steals - sixth in the conference.

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA (13-19): Jermaine Haley, a 6-7 guard who entered averaging 6.2 points and 3.7 rebounds, had 14 points, 12 rebounds and four assists against the Sooners, scoring in double figures for the sixth straight game (18.7 points per game). Lamont West (10.7 points) scored 15 points and freshman Jordan McCabe (5.1 points) scored all 12 of his points after intermission to spark the victory. Freshman forward Derek Culver (11.9 points, 10.1 rebounds), who entered the game averaging 15.5 points and 15.5 rebounds in his last four games, was saddled with foul problems all night and finished with six points and seven rebounds in 15 minutes.

TIP-INS

1. The winner plays the winner of Kansas-Texas in the semifinals Friday.

2. Texas Tech is the lowest ranked team in the history of the Big 12 preseason poll (7th) to win any part of the regular season basketball title.

3. Derek Culver joins Efe Odigie of UTEP and Lamine Diane of Cal State Northridge as the only freshmen in the country averaging at least 10 points and 10 rebounds per game.

PREDICTION: Texas Tech 82, West Virginia 63