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Texas Tech basketball demolishes TCU on Big Monday

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - JANUARY 28: Jarrett Culver #23 and Davide Moretti #25 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders celebrate during the second half of the game against the TCU Horned Frogs on January 28, 2019 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech defeated TCU 84-65. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - JANUARY 28: Jarrett Culver #23 and Davide Moretti #25 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders celebrate during the second half of the game against the TCU Horned Frogs on January 28, 2019 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech defeated TCU 84-65. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
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Monday night in front of a national television audience, the Texas Tech basketball team played its most complete game of the season throttling TCU 84-65.

Hosting the ESPN Big Monday crew for the first time in 13 years, the Texas Tech basketball team put on a show.  Jarrett Culver and Tariq Owens each had 18 points while Matt Mooney added 17 as the Red Raiders ran wild against TCU 84-65.

After the Horned Frogs got out to a 6-2 lead in the opening minutes, Tech caught fire hitting its next three shots including 3-pointers by Tariq Owens and Brandone Francis to take a 10-6 advantage.  After that, the game was never really in doubt.

A 12-4 run put the home team up 22-10 at the 10-minute mark of the first half and Tech would build on that to carry a 43-27 lead into the break setting a season-high for first-half points.  In the opening twenty minutes, Tech nailed 16-33 from the floor (48.5%) including 7-16 from 3-point range (43.8%) and scored 18 points off of eight TCU turnovers to essentially put the game on ice.

And while Tech was firing on all cylinders, TCU struggled to get out of its own way.  The normally high-scoring Frogs made just 8-21 (38.1%) shots in the first half and went just 2-10 from behind the line.

In the second half, the Red Raiders avoided the long scoring droughts that have plagued this team nearly all season despite looking like they were playing with their food at times as TCU crawled to within elven points at 66-55 with 7:47 to play.  But the Red Raiders would soon slam the door shut with the most electric three-possession sequence of the season.

Leading 78-60, Tariq Owens converted a slick feed from Jarrett Culver (who had four assists and seven rebounds) on one end of the court before rejecting TCU’s Alex Robinson at the rim on the defensive end.  That started a fast break that ended with Culver finishing on a lob from Davide Moretti, to put the Red Raiders up 80-60 and send the crowd of over 12,000 fans into a state of hysteria.

It was the best offensive performance of Big 12 play for a Texas Tech basketball team that had struggled to score in recent weeks and had not broken even the 70-point barrier against a conference opponent.  Four Red Raiders reached double digits and all eight players that saw the floor scored at least three points.

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Another key for the Red Raiders was their ability to take care of the basketball.  In a meeting of two of the four worst teams in the Big 12 in regards to turning the ball over, Tech gave it away just seven times, six fewer than TCU.

Particularly impressive was Mooney who had just one turnover in 35 minutes of action only two days after turning the ball over five times against Arkansas.  As we discussed prior to the game, Tech is good enough offensively to win games if it holds on to the ball and that was evident Monday night.

The win was critical for the Red Raiders as it kept them just a game behind Kansas State and Kansas for first place in the Big 12.  Meanwhile, TCU fell to 3-4 in the conference as their Big 12 title chances and NCAA Tournament hopes took a major hit.

Sophomore forward Kouat Noi led TCU with 17 points while leading scorer Desmond Bane scored 13.  Overall, coach Jamie Dixon saw his team shoot 45.7% from the field but just 6-18 from 3-point range.

The Frogs are still yet to win a road game in Big 12 play and have dropped 49-straight against ranked teams on the road dating back to 1998.  And playing in Lubbock has not been kind to TCU lately as they have lost six of their last seven trips to United Supermarkets Arena.

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For Texas Tech, this was exactly the type of performance that was needed before Saturday’s trip to Lawrence, Kansas to face the Jayhawks.  After struggling to put away a mediocre Arkansas team Saturday night, the Red Raiders took their game to a level we have not seen this year and ran an in-state rival right out of town.  The key now will be to figure out how to replicate that performance away from home.

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