Texas Tech vs Montana State: 2022 NCAA Tournament game preview, TV schedule

Mark Adams’ Texas Tech Red Raiders have exceeded expectations this year. How will they fare in their NCAA Tournament opener against the Montana State Bobcats?

TV Schedule: Friday, March 18 at 1:45 pm ET, TNT

Location: Viejas Arena in San Diego, California

Time and time again, the Texas Tech Red Raiders made it clear they had no plans of stepping back after the departure of Chris Beard. In fact, Mark Adams has the team in position to make a potential Final Four run in his first season.

Texas Tech has owned its dominance by being one of the best defensive teams in the land. The Red Raiders are giving up just 60.3 points per game. Teams simply can’t get good shots off against the Red Raiders’ defense, shooting 38.4 percent against them.

Many people may not know this, but Texas Tech’s leading scorer isn’t Kevin Obanor or Terrence Shannon Jr – it’s actually Bryson Williams, averaging 13.7 points per game while hitting 40.5 percent of his threes. Williams isn’t a big name nationally, but this will be an opportunity for the senior UTEP transfer to start making a bigger name for himself.

Montana State is a solid scoring team, so the chess match between Texas Tech defense and Bobcats offense could be a good one. The Bobcats average 75.4 points per game and have an effective field goal percentage of 53.4 percent.

The Bobcats make their bones at the free throw line. They are one of the leaders in the nation in both makes (16.5 per game) and attempts (22 per game) at the charity stripe, although they are more good than great at converting there (75 percent).

This could prove to be Montana State’s main point of emphasis against the Red Raiders, who are merely average when it comes to stopping teams from getting to the line. Opponents are averaging 17.1 free throw attempts against Texas Tech.

In terms of individual players, the Bobcat to keep an eye on is guard Xavier Bishop. The senior is averaging 13.9 points and 4.3 assists per game. He’s good at getting to the line and converting, but he’s not a great jump shooter. Texas Tech will look to limit his opportunities, as well as those of Jubrile Belo and sixth-man dynamo RaeQuan Battle.

This is the first time the Big Sky champions have made the NCAA Tournament since 1996 and just the fourth appearance in school history. In his third season, Bobcats alum Danny Sprinkle has morphed his program into one of the upper echelon teams in the conference – that deserves to be celebrated.

But they aren’t getting their first NCAA Tournament win this year. The team simply doesn’t have the firepower to blow past the stout Texas Tech defense, which will keep the Bobcats on lock all afternoon. It could prove to be a relatively low-scoring affair.

For what it’s worth, this is the fourth time Texas Tech has been a No. 3 seed and each of the previous times involved a bit of a battle in the First Round. In 1996 (Montana State’s last NCAA Tournament appearance), the Red Raiders beat Northern Illinois by one point. In 2018, they only beat Stephen F. Austin by 10. A year later, it was slightly more comfortable, a 15-point win over Northern Kentucky.

Montana State will likely hang close to Texas Tech for a half. For a game? That’s asking too much of the upstart Bobcats.

Prediction: Texas Tech 69, Montana State 55