Two of NCAA basketball’s more prominent African-American coaches, both with ties to Virginia Commonwealth University, went head-to-head Saturday, Jan. 2, in Lubbock, Texas.

Tubby Smith’s Texas Tech University Red Raiders defeated Shaka Smart’s University of Texas Longhorns 82-74 as both schools opened Big 12 Conference play.

Coach Smart’s first season in Austin was highlighted by a nationally televised 84-82 win over the University of North Carolina on Dec. 12.

Coach Smart’s squad started this week 8-5 overall.

Before going to Texas, Coach Smart was 165-56 at VCU from 2009 to 2015, including a trip to the 2011 Final Four.

Coach Smith was an assistant coach at VCU under Coach J.D. Barnett from 1979 to 1986 and helped the Rams to their first five NCAA appearances.

In 1998, Coach Smith guided the University of Kentucky to the NCAA title.

Counting stops at Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota and now Texas Tech, Coach Smith began this week with a 549-264 record, including 11-1 this season.

Among active African-American coaches, Coach Smith has the most wins. The all-time most winning African-American coach is Clarence “Big House” Gaines with 828 victories at Winston-Salem State University from 1946 to 1993.

John Chaney amassed 741 victories from 1972 to 2006 at Cheyney State and Temple universities in Pennsylvania.

Just counting Division I games, John Thompson is the African-American leader with 596 wins at Georgetown University from 1972 to 1999.

Dating to 1939, only four black coaches have won NCAA titles — Thompson in 1984, Nolan Richardson at Arkansas in 1994, Smith in 1998 and Connecticut’s Kevin Ollie in 2014.

The hot new face, Coach Smart, and the wily veteran, Coach Smith, will have a coaching rematch Feb. 6 in Austin.