Texas Tech basketball fans expect rowdy arena for Texas vs. Texas Tech basketball

Joe Garcia can’t wait until Tuesday night.

The Texas Tech senior journalism major circled Feb. 1 on his calendar because he wanted to watch the Red Raiders make another trip to the NCAA Tournament.

So far, No. 14 Texas Tech is on its way -- amassing a 16-5 overall record and 5-3 mark in Big 12 Conference play.

But, well before Tech can look ahead to March, there’s a big-time matchup on the schedule against Texas -- which has former Red Raider coach Chris Beard at the helm.

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The latter point is plenty of reason Texas Tech fans have become excited about the prospect of a big-time time game against the Longhorns (16-5, 5-3) set for 8 p.m. Tuesday inside United Supermarkets Arena and broadcast nationally on ESPN.

“The team has great momentum and winning this game will only make the fans go crazy," said Kendall Beverly, a junior fashion major.

The Texas Tech student section will be primed after selling out its section of more than 4,000 tickets Saturday afternoon as the Red Raiders hosted Mississippi State in a Big 12/SEC matchup.

Garcia is hoping the Texas Tech players, along with the students and fanbase, can come together once again and provide a raucous atmosphere for the visiting Longhorns.

“I expect the crowd to be super rowdy, doing our annual swag surfing and almost shaking the building,” said David Galvan, a senior journalism major.

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Texas has been a close rival of Texas Tech for the last several years, but that got kicked up a notch as Beard elected to join the burnt orange nation last April.

After that, Mark Adams -- a Brownfield native -- was named the head coach after being an assistant the past five seasons.

Now, the two coaches will face off on different sides instead of facing each other on the same bench.

Terrence Shannon Jr., Kevin McCullar, Clarence Nadolny and Marcus Santos-Silva will come full circle as they also compete against their former head coach.

“Beard groomed some of the competition he’s going up against, so that’s what makes it personal,” Galvan said.

While most of the action will take place on the hardwood, Texas Tech Athletics is doing its best to ensure that’s where it will stay.

“The arena will be on lockdown all day Tuesday - it’s gonna be big crowd so we will have more security and police officers present," said Bill Todd, Tech's head of game operations.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech fans expect rowdy arena for Texas vs. Texas Tech basketball