Texas Tech basketball set to take on West Virginia in Big 12 Tournament
Do not let West Virginia hang around until the end of the game
The best way to avoid being upset by a bad team is to jump out to a fast start. The longer an underdog is allowed to hang around, the more confident it will grow and given that Kansas is Tech’s likely opponent in the semifinals, there will be thousands of Jayhawk fans in the Sprint Center cheering for WVU.
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This would be a great time for Tech to put together another big first-half run like they have used so often during their 9-game winning streak. In the eight games prior to the regular season finale at Iowa State, Tech had outscored its previous eight opponents in the first half by an average of 38.7 – 24.3.
When the Red Raiders crushed the Mountaineers in Lubbock, Chris beard’s team jumped out to a 15-point lead at intermission. That night, Tech went 13-25 in the first half including eight buckets at the rim.
Meanwhile, WVU made just 3-17 shots in the first half. And that has been a problem for WVU this season. In nine of their fourteen Big 12 losses, the Mountaineers have trailed at halftime and in eight of those games, their deficit at the break was at least ten points.
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But when Tech scraped out the win in Morgantown, WVU led 22-20 at intermission. If WVU is able to keep tonight’s game close, they will become emboldened and will play like the classic team with nothing to lose. Should that happen, Tech will be playing with fire and allowing the worst team in the league to believe that it has an opportunity for a monumental upset.