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Texas Tech basketball: Transfer Mac McClung is headed to the South Plains

By Matthew Conner

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 28: Mac McClung #2 of the Georgetown Hoyas dribbles the ball during a college basketball game against the Providence Friars at the Capital One Arena on January 28, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 28: Mac McClung #2 of the Georgetown Hoyas dribbles the ball during a college basketball game against the Providence Friars at the Capital One Arena on January 28, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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Time and time again in 2019-20, the Texas Tech basketball team struggled in close games with no player on the roster having either the necessary athleticism or killer mentality to make game-winning plays in the closing minutes.  Wednesday, Chris Beard and the Red Raiders might have found an answer to that problem.

Former Georgetown guard Mac McClung announced on Twitter that he will be transferring to Texas Tech in a move that will help offset the recent loss of Davide Moretti to the Italian professional ranks.  Thought to be one of the top transfer players to change teams this year, the 6-foot-2 guard picked the Red Raiders over Auburn, BYU, USC, Wake Forest, Arkansas, and Memphis.

As a sophomore at Georgetown in 2019-20, the Virginia native averaged 15.7 points per game to lead his team.  That would have also led the Red Raiders who were paced by freshman Jahmi’us Ramsey and his 15 points per game.

https://twitter.com/McclungMac/status/1265722767590207494?s=20

McClung will need to seek a waiver from the NCAA in order to play this season meaning that yet another round of eligibility waiver watch lies in our future.  We spent much of the past season charting the attempts of UNLV transfer forward Joel Ntambwe who was three times denied a waiver to play.

If McClung is awarded the waiver that Ntambwe was unable to land, his scoring punch will be much needed.  After all, if Ramsey stays in the NBA Draft pool as expected, Tech will be losing 42.5 points per game, which is 59.1% of this season’s offense.

Though McClung might be able to help offset the 13 points per game that Moretti provided, he will do it in a vastly different manner.  Whereas Moretti was one of the best 3-point shooters in the nation, McClung is one of the best athletes in the game.  However, he doesn’t shoot it well from outside.

A career 29.5% shooter from behind the arc, he’s a far cry from Moretti or even Kyler Edwards in that regard.  And he has yet to come close to sniffing Ramsey’s 42.6%, which led the Red Raiders in 2019-20.  But to his credit, he did improve from 27.7% as a freshman to 32.3% as a sophomore.

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It will also be interesting to see if he is able to work in Beard’s offensive system, which emphasizes ball movement and championship-caliber shot selection.  Because make no mistake, McClung is a high-volume shooter.

This year, he averaged 13.2 shot attempts per game.  That’s more than any Red Raider took. (Ramsey led the way with 12.4).

But while he may have to reign in his propensity for shooting at will, he will bring an aggressive mentality to the team that no guard on the most recent version of the Red Raiders was able to supply.  McClung plays with a flare and an edge that may rub opposing fan bases the wrong way.  His swagger on the court is reminiscent of former Duke star J.J. Redick or former Ole Miss sharpshooter Marshall Henderson.  That type of bravado is something his new program could use a heavy dose of.

He’s also going to have to focus more on his defensive efforts.  Last season, he had a defensive rating of 104.8.  That means that for every 100 possessions, he allowed over one point.  That’s not going to cut it in Lubbock where defense is king.

In fact, no member of last season’s team had a defensive rating higher than Moretti’s 98.4.  Thus, McClung and assistant coach Mark Adams will likely be spending quite a bit of time together this offseason as Adams is the Red Raiders’ defensive guru and the architect of the defense that has propelled the program to new heights.

dark. Next. Moretti's best moments

But if there is any coach in the country that can make the most of a transfer, it is Beard who has made the transfer portal the trendy way to improve a roster in college basketball.  If will be fascinating to see how he and McClung mesh but the potential is there for a wonderful match, one that could carry the Red Raiders back to the Final Four.

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