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Texas Tech basketball: Why the Red Raiders were nearly upset by OK State

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - FEBRUARY 27: Jarrett Culver #23 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders goes to the basket against Cameron McGriff #12 of the Oklahoma State Cowboys during the second half of the game on February 27, 2019 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech defeated Oklahoma State 84-80 in overtime. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - FEBRUARY 27: Jarrett Culver #23 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders goes to the basket against Cameron McGriff #12 of the Oklahoma State Cowboys during the second half of the game on February 27, 2019 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech defeated Oklahoma State 84-80 in overtime. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
(Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

Texas Tech’s offensive execution digressed

During February, the Texas Tech basketball team became one of the better offensive teams in the country but in the month’s final game, it regressed to some poor habits that led to January’s offensive struggles.

The tendency is to look a the box score and deem Tech’s struggles as just a poor shooting night.  And certainly, the 3-19 from 3-point range was the worst Tech had shot in its last five games.

But one reason Tech struggled to shoot the deep ball was because of lazy play on the offensive end.  Missing from the offense was the precise execution and crisp ball movement that had been the driving force behind the Red Raiders’ recent offensive success.

It is fair to wonder if Tech became too infatuated with the 3-point shot after knocking down 16-26 from deep against Kansas.  In fact, in the previous five games, the Red Raiders had hit 58-124 (46.7%) of their 3-point shots.  What’s more, a Red Raider team that began that streak making fewer than seven 3’s per game hit at least ten in all but one of those games.

But did that hot streak cause the Red Raiders to fall into some bad habits?  Tech averaged 24.8 attempts per game from long-range during their winning streak, which was an increase of nearly five attempts per game from its season average.

And when the shots were not falling Wednesday night, Tech seemed to have forgotten how to attack the basket.  Hopefully, this will be an opportunity for Chris Beard to remind his team that playing solid offense and moving without the ball are the foundational pieces of the motion offense.

In overtime, Tech got back to that formula as evidenced by Matt Mooney’s two field goals in the lane on back-to-back possessions (the senior went 0-4 from 3-point range after being on fire in his previous five games) and a Tariq Owens dunk on the first possession.  Here’s hoping, this offensive performance serves as the moment when the Red Raiders are able to reset offensively and return to the offensive principals that have been so successful in February.

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