The No. 11 ranked Texas Tech men’s basketball team will hit the road tomorrow to Midland (TX) for their road game of the regular season against the Houston Baptist Huskies.

Although the Huskies are 0-2 to start the season, head coach Chris Beard gives his respect to the team and said they are good team to play against.

“Really good team,” Beard said. “Lot of respect for coach (Ron Cottrell) and his program. I went to high school in the Houston area for two years, so I’ve known all about coach Cottrell and his program for a long time. Watching the transition from that school from (NAIA) to Division II to Division I. It’s one of the best builds, really, in college basketball, what he’s done for that program. They have all-conference talent on their roster, really good players. They play fast, they play aggressive. This will be their third road game, and they played well in their first two. They had a chance to win at Tulsa, and they have a chance to win at Oral Roberts. So, it’s a team that has our full attention and our full respect. We’ll have to play well to have a chance to win.”

With it being the first regular season for the Red Raiders, Beard said they will get a chance to go through everything from a preparation standpoint.

“Every game on our schedule has a purpose,” Beard said. “The big, simple explanation is all non-conference games will prepare you for the Big 12. So, we put ourselves in situations, it is an opportunity. This is an opportunity to play on the road. It’s an opportunity to play not in our gym. So, we’ll approach travel today, the hotel tonight, the shoot-around the day of the game. It’s a learning experience for our young guys. We want to try to play well on the road. This is our first opportunity to do so.”

In Beard’s opening statement, he talked about going to play in Midland and how good it would be since some season ticket holders live there as well as many fans. Beard said he is looking forward to this game for that reason.

“We’re excited about this game,” Beard said. “Way back when we first got the job, we were talking about how to build a program. We’ve always had interest in playing games in the Permian Basin region.”

“Growing up in Texas, I had respect for that Midland-Odessa area, so much for so many reasons. Great basketball both in Midland College and Odessa Junior College, and the high school basketball there is tremendous. So, we’re looking forward to playing in front of our fans in the Permian Basin region. Seven o’clock tip tomorrow.”

Beard mentioned there are still some tickets available and can be purchased at texastech.com rather than waiting until tomorrow at the gate.

Coach Beard also talked about how important is to play in specific regions, including Midland/Odessa. Beard said they take a lot of pride in being West Texas’ university.

“Even people that didn’t go to Texas Tech,” Beard said, “support Tech athletics, from Amarillo to Permian Basin over to eastern New Mexico. We’re really proud of our fanbase. Again, this is something we like to do. We’d like to play in Amarillo in the future. We’ve talked about trying to get that done sooner than later. We certainly want to have a presence in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. That’s something we’re working on, but this first regular season game will be playing in the Permian Basin. We’re excited about it.”

Beard also mentioned scheduling a game with Houston Baptist in the region was not difficult.

Grad transfer TJ Holyfield received Big 12 honors as the conference’s Newcomer of the Week. Although it’s a great honor, Beard said the team does not focus on that sort of stuff but did take a moment to recognize him.

“He’s off to a great start,” Beard said. “He’s doing exactly what we recruited him to do. Much more important to me than stats is just his approach. He’s coming here with a lot of leadership, but he’s also coming here as a follower. To me if you’re going to be leader, you also have to follow. He didn’t come in here with all the answers. He came in here trying to make an impact on this team as a grad transfer. It’s great to see him playing aggressive. It’s great to see him play with confidence. I have a lot of trust in Holyfield. I’m pleased for him to be off to a great start individually”

In two games, Holyfield is averaging 17.5 points (leads the team), six rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game as well as shooting 78.5% from the floor.