GAME DETAILS
Where: Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
When: 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 30
Watch it on: FS1
What to know: Butler
Head coach: Thad Matta
Record: 5-2
Preseason conference selection: 10th (Big East)
After a successful trip to the Bahamas where it took part in the Battle 4 Atlantis, Texas Tech is back in the continental United States but will once again travel to Indianapolis to take on Butler. The Red Raiders dropped their tournament opener against Villanova, but rebounded for wins against Northern Iowa and Michigan in the ensuing two days of action. Tech currently holds a 5-1 record, but have yet to compete in a true road game. Thursday will be the first opportunity.
“We’re really excited about the opportunity to play in the Big 12-Big East (Battle),” Tech head coach Grant McCasland said Tuesday. “Representing the Big 12 is a big deal to us and know that having played and been a part of the best league in the country, there’s an expectation. Butler’s a fantastic team, playing in Hinkle Fieldhouse will be an awesome opportunity for our group, we have a ton of respect. They went 2-1, very similar to what we did, in their last (multiple-team event) and they got a great team. You can tell they have a year under their belt, even though they have quite a few newcomers, we’re excited about the opportunity.”
The newcomers, as McCasland mentioned, are headlined by Pierre Brooks II. Brooks, a Detroit native who spent the two previous seasons under Tom Izzo at Michigan State, transferred to Butler prior to this season. A 6-foot-6 guard/forward, Brooks is the Bulldogs’ leading scorer, averaging 16.7 points per game. He is coming off two strong performances- Brooks scored 26 against Penn State and 25 against former Red Raider Chibuzo Agbo and Boise State at the ESPN Events Invitational.
“I think when you look at Butler they’ve got a lot of new guys that are filling out roles too,” McCasland said. “You see them trying to adapt to new opportunities, so I feel like they’ve got different guys that are playing well on different nights. But the physicality that Pierre brings and the way he’s played recently, you could tell it was a big reason why they won their last two games. It feels like they’re shifting a little bit in who they want to be a primary, go-to guy and how they’re playing and they’re learning their team just like we are.”
Back in September, Tech football head coach Joey McGuire noted he had received pointers from McCasland about playing on the road, for good reason. McCasland’s teams at North Texas eventually became formidable playing away from Denton, as he amassed a 43-34 road record while coaching the Mean Green, including a 10-3 clip in the 2022-23 season. McCasland will be looking to use his own advice when he leads the Red Raiders into Hinkle.
“I think your togetherness and how committed you are in hostile environments and we just haven’t seen that as a team yet,” McCasland said. “I mean, we’ve faced neutral site games and home games. So how do you do it in the face of adversity? Well, you really come together and there’s a cohesion involved and timeouts and free throws and in between plays and how you communicate with each other. It just has to be at the highest level. That’s really going to be our emphasis, is how connected we can stay and how committed to each other can we stay over the course of 40 minutes on the road. It’s always that, but it gets amplified when you play road games.”
The Bulldogs were selected to finish 10th out of 11 Big East teams heading into Thad Matta’s second season at the helm. Pierre Brooks is one of 10 newcomers on this year’s Butler squad. As a team, the Bulldogs shoot around 34 percent from beyond the three-point arc, with their best performance from downtown coming in a loss to 2023 Final Four attendee Florida Atlantic when Butler shot 9-19. Jahmyl Telfort is another name to watch. The 6-foot-7 forward is second on the team in scoring (13.9 points per game), and is another transfer hailing from Northeastern. Telfort is one of the five transfers that averaged double-digit scoring at their respective schools a year ago, as he averaged 16 a night at Northeastern.
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