(5-0, 0-0)

VS.

(4-1, 0-0)

St. Mary's, Calif. Gaels vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders

Friday, November 26,2010 | 7:30 p.m.

South Padre Island Convention Centre | South Padre Island, TX

TV: FOX College Sports | Radio: Affiliates

STARTING LINEUPS

Thoughts about the game after the jump.

PREVIEW

GAME DAY STAT | The Gaels are the 50th ranked team by KenPom and although my initial reaction was that St. Mary's is going to be a much better team than Texas Tech, they're actually pretty similar. St. Mary's does have a slightly better offense than Texas Tech, but both the Gaels and the Red Raiders are pretty bad defensively. If there's one thing that Texas Tech might take from this is that the Gaels current strength of schedule is 309th in the country compared to 269th in the nation for Texas Tech. Texas Tech hasn't played a great schedule, but St. Mary's has played 1 decent team, St. John's, but some otherwise awful opponents: College of Idaho (NR); Point Loma Nazarene (NR); Mississippi Valley St. (332) and Chicago St. (336).

PLAYER FOCUS | PG John Roberson, SG David Tairu and anyone else guarding Mickey McConnell, they should get a pretty good workout tonight. McConnell is shooting an amazing 61% from the field and 56% from the three-point line for the Gaels. That's off-the-charts in credibly good and you just don't see a player shooting so well from the field. But considering McConnell's stats, he was only 1-3 from the field against St. John's and has mainly built up his statistics against the aforementioned weaker competition . . . And from what I can tell, St. Mary's best rebounder, Tim Williams, doesn't start, but he's playing about 18 minutes a game and grabbing over 8 boards. Pretty good.

FOUR FACTORS | As mentioned above, the Gaels are just slightly better offensively, but they're grabbing more rebounds and shooting more free throws than Texas Tech. I may be splitting hairs here, but I think the fact that St. Mary's has played some really awful opponents (not even rated amongst 300+ teams) and I think their stats may not reflect the type of team they actually are. Other than St. John's this is the biggest test for St. Mary's and it was a back-and-forth affair for a good part of the game.