Feb. 20, 2001

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

United Spirit Arena
Lubbock, Texas
7 p.m.

THE COACHES
Texas Tech head coach James Dickey enters the game with a 165-119 record over 10 seasons in Lubbock. Dickey has led the Red Raiders to two NCAA and one NIT appearance during his tenure.

Barry Collier is in his first season at Nebraska and has led the Cornhuskers to a 13-12 mark this season, including a 6-6 Big 12 record. In 12 seasons as a collegiate head coach, Collier is 209-144.

NEBRASKA LEADS SERIES 9-6, HAS WON LAST TWO
The Huskers hold a 9-6 advantage in the series and have won three of the last four games. Since the two teams began Big 12 play, NU leads the series 3-2 and has won two straight.

The Red Raiders lead 4-3 in games played in Lubbock and have not lost the Huskers at home since the 1988-89 season.

SCOUTING THE CORNHUSKERS
Cookie Belcher leads the team with 15.8 points per game, followed by Kimani Ffriend (13.7) and Steffon Bradford (12.7). Bradford and Ffriend lead with 8.2 and 8.0 rebounds per game and rank among the Big 12's top five. Ffriend and Bradford also are shooting above 60 percent on the season. Ffriend has connected on 64.4 percent from the field, while Bradford follows with a 61.1 percentage.

Nebraska holds a narrow 1.7 point per game advantage over its opponents and is shooting 49.2 percent from the field. The Huskers are hitting 38.2 percent from three and struggle from the foul line with a 58.8 percentage. On the boards, NU leads by 4.2 rebounds per game.

TECH LEADERS AGAINST KANSAS STATE
Andy Ellis leads Tech with 8.5 points per game in two games against Nebraska. Cliff Owens follows with 6.7 points in three games and leads Tech with 5.7 rebounds. Jayson Mitchell has averaged 5.0 points in two games.

NEBRASKA CLAIMS SECOND STRAIGHT OVER TECH, ELLIS' SEASON ENDS
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Louis Truscott scored a career-high 18 points and had 11 rebounds Wednesday night to lead Nebraska to its first Big 12 win of the season, 70-67 over Texas Tech.

Steffon Bradford scored 15 and Kimani Ffriend had 13 points and 12 rebounds as the Cornhuskers (8-9, 1-3) kept the Red Raiders near the bottom of the league standings. Tech (9-5, 0-3) is one of three teams in the Big 12 without a victory in conference play.

Bradford gave the Cornhuskers a 68-65 lead with a pair of free throws with 32.5 seconds left, then Danny Walker added one from the line after Truscott made his third block of the game and the Huskers held on for its first conference win.

Rayford Young missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have tied it for Tech. Young, who averages more than 17 points a game, finished with 10 after being double-teamed all night.

Nebraska also held 6-foot-11 Tech center Andy Ellis to 10 points, seven below his average, before Ellis left the game with about six minutes to play with a dislocated left shoulder.

Mario Layne led Tech with 18 points and James Ware added 10 points for the Red Raiders.

Tech, which trailed by nine at halftime after hitting just 9-of-32 from the floor, made its first three shots in the second half.

RED RAIDERS LOOKING FOR FIRST WIN SINCE JANUARY 16
Texas Tech enters Wednesday night's game with Nebraska on the heels of a seven-game losing streak. The Red Raiders haven't won since knocking off then-No. 21 Oklahoma 60-59 in Lubbock. The drought is Tech's longest since dropping the eight straight last season.

The Red Raiders are coming off of a 73-54 loss at Kansas State in a game where the Wildcats snapped a seven-game skid. Andy Ellis led Tech with 16 points, including eight points from the foul line. Andre Emmett came off of the bench for 10 points.

The Huskers have won two straight -- an 82-56 home win over Kansas State and an 87-82 overtime win at Colorado.

A WIN AGAINST NEBRASKA WOULD ...

• Improve Tech's record to 9-14 overall and 3-9 in league play.
• Snap Tech's seven-game losing skid.
• Move Tech's league win total to three games, tying last season's win total.
• Give Texas Tech its first win over Nebraska since the 1998-99 season.
• Up James Dickey's career coaching record to 166-119.
• Improve Tech's all-time record to 1,100- 836.

A LOSS AGAINST NEBRASKA WOULD...

• Extend Tech's losing streak to eight games.
• Extend Tech's home losing streak to three and drop the season home record to 5-7.
• Mark the first eight-game losing streak since the eight-game drought midway through last season.

NOTING THE LOSS AT KANSAS STATE

• The loss extended Tech's losing streak to seven games.
• The Red Raiders fell to 0-9 on the season in games when out-rebounded by their opponent.
• For the fourth time in the last five games, the opponent has had four players score in double figures. Baylor had six.
• Tech dropped to 2-12 when giving up 70 or more points.
• Jayson Mitchell scored six points after averaging 13.5 points per game over the previous four.
• Andy Ellis led Texas Tech in scoring, including 8-of-9 from the foul line.

LEADING THE RED RAIDERS
Andy Ellis continues to lead the team with 14.9 points per game. Cliff Owens and Jamal Brown follow with 12.0 and 11.4 points, respectively. Owens leads the team on the boards with 7.1 rebounds per game and Ellis follows with 6.6. Brown ranks sixth in the nation and third in the Big 12 with 6.7 assists per game. Owens is shooting 57.1 percent from the field and is the only Red Raider over the .500 mark.

BROWN PRODUCING GOOD NUMBERS
Jamal Brown is third on the team this season with 11.4 points per game, but has elevated his game during the Big 12 season. In league games only, Brown leads the team with 13.3 points per game. Over the last eight games, he is averaging 13.0 points per outing. He currently ranks third in the Big 12 and sixth nationally with 6.7 assists per game. He also is sixth on the Tech single-season assists list with 142 on the season. Brown has posted four double-digit assist games this season. He dished out 11 in each game against UL Lafayette and UTEP. Brown handed out 10 balls against Texas A&M-CC and 10 more at TCU. In addition to his assists total, he has recorded three double-doubles this season.

MITCHELL COOLS OFF
Senior guard/forward Jayson Mitchell scored 56 points in the four games (14 ppg) leading into the Kansas State game, after managing only 24 points in the previous six games. In the last game at Kansas State, Mitchell was held to six points.

DICKEY THIRD IN TENURE
Red Raider head coach James Dickey ranks third in tenure among coaches who have coached in the Big 12. Roy Williams is in his 13th season at Kansas, while Eddie Sutton is in his 11th at Oklahoma State. Dickey is in his 10th season at Tech.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Texas Tech is 0-9 on the season when out-rebounded by its opponent ... the Oklahoma loss was the first for the Red Raiders when they post a higher field goal percentage than their opponent ... the Red Raiders are 7-1 in games when posting a higher percentage ... Tech is 2-12 when allowing 70 or more points to the opposition and 1-13 when trailing at the half.

DICKEY USES FIFTH DIFFERENT LINEUP
Texas Tech head coach James Dickey unveiled the team's fifth starting lineup of the season at Oklahoma. Jamal Brown, Andy Ellis, Cliff Owens, Mikey Marshall and Jayson Mitchell made up the fifth different starting five this season.

OWENS NEARING CENTURY MARK
Senior forward Cliff Owens played in his 99th career game when the Red Raiders played at Kansas State. Senior center Johnny Phillips played in his 100th-career game at Texas Tech at Oklahoma. Phillips has now played in 103 games. Tony Benford is the all-time games played leader at Tech with 121 from 1982-86.

HEY MIKEY, HE LIKES IT!
Freshman guard Mikey Marshall posted the first double-digit scoring game of his career with 10 points at Oklahoma. Marshall also played a career-record 31 minutes. His previous scoring high was nine points at Oral Roberts, while he twice played 26 minutes. He led Tech with six rebounds in the loss at Kansas State.

ELLIS CONTINUES TO LEAD TECH
Center Andy Ellis leads the team with 14.8 points per game, is second on the boards with 6.6 rebounds and ranks 12th in the Big 12 in scoring. He posted back-to-back double-doubles earlier this season against UTEP and Ball State. Ellis has scored in double-figures in all but one game this season and has led the team in scoring in nine games and has four game-high honors. He also leads the team with five 20+-point games.

OWENS ON THE GLASS
Throughout his career senior forward Cliff Owens has had a knack for crashing the boards and leading Texas Tech in rebounding. Owens led the Red Raiders with 7.7 rebounds per game as a sophomore in 1997-98 and paced the team again the following season with 7.0 boards per game. After sitting out last season with an ankle injury, Owens once again leads the team on the glass. He is currently averaging 7.1 rebounds and has led the team in 12 games. Five times he has garnered game-high honors.

BENCH PRODUCTION
Texas Tech is receiving an added boost this season from the bench. Tech's nonstarters are averaging 19.8 points per game - 25.7 percent of the team total. Last season, bench scoring averaged 11.2 points per game. The Red Raiders are 5-4 on the season when the Tech bench out-scores the opposition's bench.

TECH SUCCESSFUL WHEN LEADING LATE
Texas Tech is 6-2 when leading with five minutes remaining in the game. The first loss came to UTEP after Tech held a seven-point lead with five minutes to play. The Red Raiders led Missouri by two with five minutes to play, but dropped a two-point decision. The Red Raiders did not lead the Sooners at the five minute mark in the second half Wednesday night, but did manage a two-point advantage with 3:42 to play.

LEADING AT THE BREAK
Texas Tech is 6-1 on the season when leading at halftime. The lone loss came to UTEP after the Red Raiders entered the intermission period with a 46-39 advantage.

TECH GETS FIRST WIN OVER RANKED OPPONENT IN TWO YEARS
Texas Tech's 60-59 win over No. 21 Oklahoma was the first for the Red Raiders over a ranked team since knocking off 24th-ranked Kansas 90-84 on Feb. 13, 1999. Both games were in Lubbock. The last time Tech defeated an opponent ranked higher than 21st was a 77-68 win over 11th-ranked New Mexico on Dec. 4, 1996. During that same season, the Red Raiders also defeated No. 21 Fresno State.

ELLIS NAMED TO PRESEASON TEAMS
Texas Tech junior center Andy Ellis has been tabbed by three college basketball publications as a preseason All-Big 12.

Ellis is listed as a second-team All-Big 12 selection by The Sporting News and Athlon Sports. Street and Smith's has Ellis listed as an All-Big 12 selection along with Jamaal Tinsley (Iowa State), Kimani Ffriend (Nebraska), Drew Gooden (Kansas) and Bernard King (Texas A&M).

Ellis, who injured his hand last month, averaged 16.9 points per game and 8.9 rebounds during the 1999-00 season before dislocating his left shoulder against Nebraska in the 14th game of the season that forced him to sit out the remainder of the year.