How Grad Transfer Tariq Owens Will Fit With Texas Tech

Monday, the Texas Tech basketball team landed perhaps its most important offseason target in graduate transfer center Tariq Owens. Here’s a look at how he will fit in Chris Beard’s scheme on both ends of the court.

Though the ink on the 2017-18 season is hardly dry, Texas Tech is starting to build for next season. That process took a huge step forward Monday when Chris Beard landed St. Johns’ grad transfer center Tariq Owens.

The former 4-star recruit scored 8.4 points per game last season while grabbing 5.9 boards. But his biggest contribution will be on the defensive end of the court where he blocked 2.8 shots per game last season, an area of the game Texas Tech needed to address with the loss of senior Zach Smith and the potential departure of freshman Zhaire Smith to the NBA.

To get a better idea of what Owens brings to the game, I watched St. Johns’ game against Duke from February. This was one of the best games of the season for Owens (17 points, four rebounds, two assists and a block). It was also a great test for Owens as he had to guard Duke’s star forward Marvin Bagley III who is projected to be a top-5 pick in this year’s NBA Draft.

Bailey can do everything from shoot the three to score with his back to the rim so his skill set tested every aspect of Owens’ game. Let’s take a closer look at Tariq Owens and how he will fit on the court with the Red Raiders next season.

Defense

Make no mistake, Tariq Owens has been brought to Texas Tech to play defense. Chris Beard has built his program to be a hard-nosed defense-fist collection of players and Owens will fit perfectly with that mentality.

Against Duke, Owens was active around the rim on virtually every defensive possession. His obsession with protecting the paint was obvious (though it did cause him to lose track of Bagley on a couple of occasions allowing open looks from three).

When watching Owens play defense, one can’t help but see a human pogo stick as Owens is always hopping and can get off the floor with sneaky quickness. That constant action combined with his 7-foot-4 wingspan caused Duke guards to abandon numerous drives to the rim and kick the ball out to a shooter on the wing or turn the ball over.

Speaking of turnovers, Owens pestered Bagley throughout the game leading the all-American to commit 6 turnovers on the night. Giving up 30 pounds to Bagley (the 6-foot-11 Owens weighs only 205 pounds) was not a big issue as Owens length, intelligence and understanding of footwork helped him play excellent defense in the paint.

Bagley is widely renowned for his footwork in the post and he was able to beat Owens with his post moves on a few occasions. However, Owens’ athleticism and length helped him recover and contest most of Bagley’s shots.

In fact, when going one-on-one with Bagley in the paint, Owens was fantastic. Of Bagley’s 19 points, 11 came from the foul line or the three point line and the rest came off of put-back and transition dunks. But when Duke dumped the ball into Bagley in the paint, Owens was up to the task as well as any post player Duke encountered this season.

Owens’ defensive game is something Texas Tech basketball fans haven’t seen in a while. He plays like a Slinky, capable of changing directions in an instant. He is not quite as explosive as Zach Smith but he is three inches taller and he uses his remarkably long arms with expertise.

One other aspect of Tariq Owens’ game that is above average is his instinctual understanding of defensive principals. Owens appears to have studied defensive basketball and he almost always seems to be right where he is needed.

This is a player that could turn into a favorite for a fan base that has come to value defense and relentless effort. Owens seems to be a perfect for for Chris Beard on the defensive end.

Offense

It is tougher to picture Tariq Owens in Beard’s motion offense. That is because St. Johns runs a much different offense that utilizes the pick-and-roll on almost every possession.

Against Duke, Owens came from the deep post to set a ball screen on almost every possession. When he was open on a roll to the basket, he was wonderfully effective.

Perhaps the element Texas Tech fans will appreciate most is Owens’ hands. He displays an above average ability to catch touch passes in traffic and finish at the rim. This is something Tech’s centers, Norense Odiase and Tommy Hamilton struggled with often last season.

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Where Owens struggles is with his jump shot. He took only three jumpers against Duke and none of them connected. His jumper is a bit awkward and Duke had no regard for him when he had the ball outside the paint.

Almost all of his points came off of cuts to the rim off the pick-and-roll or off of effort plays like put-backs. As the Tweet below indicates, 11.5% of his made field goals last season were unassisted and we can assume those were off of rebounds because he is not a ball-handler or outside shooter.

Also, Owens looked uncomfortable putting the ball on the floor. Likewise, his passing was not impressive. Those traits make it hard to see how well he will be able to execute Texas Tech’s motion offense.

Being a facilitator with the ball and handling the ball to help break the press is something Zach Smith did very well last year. Unfortunately, Owens will not be able to fill that same role (nor will Odiase or Malik Ondigo) and should Zhaire Smith not return, Beard may have to go to the small-ball lineup with guards and forwards against aggressive pressing defenses.

Owens must work had to develop his ball-handling and passing skills so that he can be effective in the motion offense. He will not be the focal point of the offense but he must also be an efficient cog in the motion in order to help keep the offense flowing.

Next: Top 5 Texas Tech Basketball Games of 2017-18

Overall, Owens is a fantastic player who looks like he is a Chris Beard type of player. He brings a much-needed defensive element to the squad that could help the Red Raiders field yet another elite defensive team in 2018-19.

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