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Texas Tech basketball looks to end 22-game losing streak in Austin

By Matthew Conner

AUSTIN, TX - JANUARY 24: Bevo, the Texas mascot, performs before the game between the Texas Longhorns and the Kansas Jayhawks at the Frank Erwin Center on January 24, 2015 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TX - JANUARY 24: Bevo, the Texas mascot, performs before the game between the Texas Longhorns and the Kansas Jayhawks at the Frank Erwin Center on January 24, 2015 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images) /
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The Texas Tech basketball team has lost 22-consecutive games in Austin, a streak that could come to an end Saturday afternoon.

Remember 1996?  That was the year Tupac was gunned down in Las Vegas, the movie Independence Day was the top-grossing movie in the world, the Dallas Cowboys won Super Bowl XXX and the fist Big 12 football game took place as the Red Raiders lost to Kansas State 21-14.  That year also marked a significant moment in Texas Tech basketball history as the Red Raiders beat the Longhorns in Austin, something that has not happened in the 23 years since.

Saturday, the No. 8 Red Raiders have an opportunity to put an end to one of the most frustrating and ugly streaks in program history.

Until last season, most would agree that the1995-96 Texas Tech basketball team was the best in program history.  On the shoulders of Corey Carr and Tony Battie, the Red Raiders went undefeated through the regular season on their way to the Sweet 16 eventually falling to Allen Iverson and Georgetown to finish 28-1.

During their run to the final Southwest Conference title ever (and the last conference title in program history), head coach James Dickey’s team knocked off the Longhorns 75-58 in the state capital.  But since then, the Frank Erwin Center has become a house of horrors for the guys in scarlet and black.

Not only have the Red Raiders failed to win in Austin in 23 years, they have rarely been able to be competitive.  In only eight of the last 22 games in Austin have the Red Raiders lost by single digits.  Their average margin of defeat since 1996 has been 14.4 points per game.

The low point of this drought came in a three-year stretch from 2006-2008 when Tech lost by 34, 29 and 26 points respectively.   But in recent years, there have been opportunities to put the streak to bed.

In 2015’s 67-64 loss, Jaye Crockett missed a jumper in the final seconds with Tech trailing by one point.  In 2017, UT’s Eric Davis hit a 3-pointer to break a 58-58 tie with just :29 to play as the Horns eventually came away with a 62-58 win.

Could this year’s trip to Austin be different for the Red Raiders?  Much of that may depend on which Texas team shows up.

The Horns’ two biggest wins, No. 7 North Carolina and Arkansas, both came on a neutral court.  At home, their best wins have been a 72-68 victory over Purdue and a 61-54 triumph over West Virginia.

But Shaka Smart has seen his team suffer some shocking defeats on their home court as well.  On November 30th, No. 17 Texas fell 62-59 to Radford ending any momentum the Horns had built in their two previous games against North Carolina and No. 11 Michigan State (Texas played the Spartans close in a 78-68 loss).

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They would also drop their next game 54-53 to Shaka Smart’s former employer Virginia Commonwealth.  In that game, Texas missed two good looks from 3-point range in the closing seconds.

On December 21st, Providence handed the Horns a 71-65 defeat on their own court.  Texas never led in the game but pulled to within four points in the final minute before Providence iced the game at the foul line.

Those three losses underscore a fact that makes Tech’s 22-game losing streak so frustrating; Texas is not a dominant home team.  The Erwin Center is one of the more docile arenas in the Big 12, mainly because UT fans have never been known for raising hell, especially when their team is mediocre.

Winning in Austin has not ever been akin to winning in Lawrence, Kansas or Durham, North Carolina.  Texas has lost multiple Big 12 games at home in every season since 2014-15.

That could be in part because their massive 17,900-seat arena is rarely ever full.  In fact, this year, their average home attendance has been just 8,482 (according to the Big 12 website) which is just 47% of the stadium’s capacity.  In the Big 12, Texas is tied with Oklahoma State for last in percentage of the arena filled on a per-game basis meaning that their home court advantage is often minimal.

But regardless of whether the Erwin Center has been packed to the rafters or as empty as 6th Street on Sunday morning, Texas Tech has been unable to come out of “the Drum” with a win since the year that the Spice Girls were taking America by storm and Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky were spending lots of late nights in the Oval Office.

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Hopefully, 2019 will be the year that Texas Tech finds a way to end its Travis County blues.  If the Red Raiders don’t, it will not be the end of the world as Tech will still be atop the Big 12 standings. But if Chris Beard’s team can do something that has not happened in the lifetime of most college seniors, it will give us yet another reason to believe that this year’s Red Raider basketball team is special.  Fortunately, Beard has already made a habit of accomplishing what has rarely been seen in Lubbock.

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