The Red Raiders are 8-9 (0-2) with losses to St. Mary's at the South Padre Invitational, at Washington and to Texas. The Red Raiders return 4 starters from last season (a squad that posted a 19-16 overall record, including a 4-12 mark in the Big XII Conference). The Red Raiders are projected to finish 7th in the Big XII Conference.
The Red Raiders are lead by F Mike Singletary, F Brad Reese, G John Roberson, G David Tairu and F Robert Lewandowski. Singletary is averaging 13 points/game (leads the team), 6 rebounds/game (leads the team) and 3 assists/game. Singletary is the team's most prolific scorer and though he does top 20 points on a fairly regular basis and once scored 43 in a Big 12 Tournament game, Texas Tech doesn't lean on him like it has some older players. In fact, Singletary has only scored 20 points once this season.
Reese is averaging 12 points/game, 5 rebounds/game and 2 assists/game. Roberson is averaging 11 points/game, 2 rebounds/game and 4 assists/game (leads the team). Roberson, is one of three seniors that assistant coach Bubba Jennings says: "have a tremendous amount of playing time, tremendous experience, and it's really time for them to step up big and play."
Tairu is averaging 10 points/game, 2 rebounds/game and 1 assist/game. Tairu was Tech's best three-point shooter last season at 46 percent and shot 47 percent from the field. This season his numbers are down from three point land (36%) but he is consistent at 47% from the field.
Lewandowski is averaging 10 points/game, 5 rebounds/game and 1 assist/game. Lewandowski has been the model of inconsistency during his time at Texas Tech. As a freshman he averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds but as a sophomore his numbers dipped. This season he averages his 10 points in 25 minutes/game.
This team has been a disappointment. They didn't play a tough non conference schedule (the only BCS conference team they played was Washington) so they expected to enter conference play with only three losses. However they had losses at North Texas, at UTEP, to New Mexico, to South Florida at the South Padre Invitational and to TCU which didn't help the cause at all. The Cats have ZERO excuse to lose to this team.
