Red Raiders to face off against North Florida

LUBBOCK - The time to play for real is almost here.

The Texas Tech men's basketball team has gone through a pair of secret scrimmages, reportedly against Wichita State and New Mexico State, which allowed the coaching staff to acquire some learning lessons for the players.

After seeing several weaknesses exposed, head coach Mark Adams feels like his squad is poised to start the regular season in less than a week.

The Red Raiders are scheduled to face off against North Florida at 7 p.m. Tuesday inside United Supermarkets Arena.

"We just learned more about ourselves," Adams said of what was learned from the two scrimmages.

"When you go through a scrimmage like that, your focus is how you can get better. So we played against two really tough teams and they exposed some of our weaknesses, which we knew they would, which gives us a chance to spend most of that time at practice trying to get better and learn from those mistakes."

One positive Adams can take away is the depth his squad possesses at all positions.

It all starts with returners Kevin McCullar and Terrence Shannon, Jr. electing to run it back for another season and adding several impact transfers including Oral Robert's Kevin Obanor and UTEP's Bryson Williams.

McCullar is being asked to take on the point guard role along with Mylik Wilson, Davion Warren and Adonis Arms. If McCullar, who can guard the 1-4 spots, figures out the new role the Red Raiders will be in a good spot with Sardaar Calhoun and Chibuzo Agbo also in the mix to help with their perimeter defense and ability to shoot 3-point shots.

"Having the first two scrimmages have been good," McCullar said. "Kind of build the team camaraderie. We're still a work in progress. We're just going to have to keep working every day to get better by March."

But, that doesn't mean a starting rotation has been figured out yet.

"You hope sooner rather than later," Adams said. "As a head coach, you're always trying to not only find the best players and put them on the floor, but find those guys that play well together.

"So we have a couple of challenges. But it's a good problem to have when you have this much depth."

In the post, Texas Tech appears to like the mix of Williams and Obanor who can not only finish at the rim but pull their defender outside due to their ability to drain the 3-point shot. They will be aided by East Los Angeles College transfer KJ Allen, Marcus Santos-Silva and see some stints from Arizona transfer Daniel Batcho.

Obanor was one of the best to do that last season, netting 46.3 percent of those shots while averaging 18.7 points and 9.6 rebounds.

Williams, who averaged 15.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game last season with the Miners, shot 48.1 percent from the field. It dropped to 32.1 percent when he stepped behind the 3-point line, but that's a challenge he's taken on along with improving his defense - that included 12 blocked shots a year prior - with the Red Raiders.

"He wants me to shoot a lot more 3s," Williams said of his discussions with his head coach. "He wants me to continue working on my 3-ball because he wants me to be able to shoot them in games. So I've been working vigorously on that.

"I've always been able to shoot, but I want to be able to just be a much more consistent shooter and be able to knock them down when we need them."

If Obanor and Williams are able to knock down three-pointers, which would allow the offense to spread the floor, the Red Raiders could start to show improvements and get closer to playing the up-tempo style Adams has been talking about since his hiring back in the spring.

"It's very exciting," Williams said of the season opener. "Every opponent coming up, it's very humbling, it's very exciting to get into the next competition coming up here at Texas Tech. Very excited, very ready for the game."