Texas Tech basketball: Tariq Owens must come up big vs. Arkansas

The Texas Tech basketball team needs Tariq Owens to come up big today against Arkansas on both ends of the court.

One of the most important moves the Texas Tech basketball team made this offseason was picking up grad transfer Tariq Owens from St. John’s. Needing a rim protector to help offset the losses of Zach and Zhaire Smith, the Red Raiders desperately needed a player with Owens’ skill set to anchor the defense.

Thus far, Owens has been as advertised scoring 8.3 points, grabbing 5.2 rebounds and blocking an impressive 2.5 shots per game. And today against Arkansas, he will have to be at his best against one of the most talented centers in the nation.

Arkansas’ Daniel Gafford enters the game averaging 16.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per contest. As a result, he is projected as a first round pick in next summer’s NBA Draft.

The matchup between Owens and Gafford will likely be the most pivotal in today’s game. This is the type of player Tech brought Owens in to do battle with and he must hold his own.

But to get the upper hand, Owens will have to be locked in on both ends of the court. Let’s start with the obvious; his defense.

Gafford will challenge Owens’ post defense because he will have a nearly 30-pound advantage. We have seen Owens play fantastic help-side defense this year but we have not seen him have to go head-to-head with a big-time offensive scorer like Gafford who is extremely skilled on the block.

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Tech will have to be careful when deciding if it wants to double-team Gafford because the Hogs have lethal outside shooters, especially freshman Isaiah Joe who is shooting 44% from 3-point range and already has three games with at least seven 3-pointers.

One key for Owens will be to play solid positional defense and be judicious when deciding to try to block shots. He must use his reach to make Gafford uncomfortable but if he tries to swat every shot, he risks picking up fouls as well as taking himself out of solid rebounding position. Owens’ maturity and situational awareness will be tested today because he will have to pick his spots when going after Gafford.

On offense, it would be fantastic if Owens can make enough shots to make Gafford respect his offensive abilities. Arkansas relies on Gafford to protect the rim and if he does not fear Owens’ offensive game, he can cheat off of him and provide help-side defense.

It would be optimal for Owens to shoot as well today as he did against Kansas State on Tuesday. He was 5-8 from the floor and hit two 3-pointers in a game for the first time this season.

I normally do not support Owens having the green light to fire from behind the arc because he’s just 21% shooter from that range (even after going 2-4 in Manhattan) but it might be wise for him to get some early looks today to show Gafford that he must pay attention to his offensive game.

Thus far, Owens has six double-digit scoring games this year but he is yet to hit that mark in back-to-back contests. He went for 12 in his last outing and he needs to come close to that type of production today. The most he has scored following a double-digit game is nine points and Tech may need more than that from him today, especially if the dangerous Arkansas offense puts pressure on Tech to keep pace.

So far this year, a number of Big 12 teams like West Virginia, Kansas, Baylor and Kansas State have been without their best big man when playing Tech. (Tech is yet to play Kansas but their star center Udoka Azubuike is out for the year.) Maybe the most skilled center Tech has seen was Nick Rakocevic of USC who entered the game with the Red Raiders averaging 17 points and nine boards.

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Tech held Rakocevic to nine points and nine rebounds while frustrating him all night long. Meanwhile, Owens had 18 huge points and four rebounds in the Red Raiders’ 78-63 win. Rakocevic is a similar type of player to Gafford and if Owens can dominate today’s big man matchup in the same way, Tech will be in fantastic shape.

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