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Texas Tech basketball adds grad transfer T.J. Holyfield

By Matthew Conner

DALLAS, TX - MARCH 15: Jarrett Culver #23 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders is blocked by TJ Holyfield #22 of the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks in the second half in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at American Airlines Center on March 15, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - MARCH 15: Jarrett Culver #23 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders is blocked by TJ Holyfield #22 of the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks in the second half in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at American Airlines Center on March 15, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)
(Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /

He missed the 2018-19 season with a shoulder injury

The last time T.J. Holyfield played a college basketball game, it was against the Red Raiders in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament.  But after an offseason shoulder injury, the 2018 Southland Conference Tournament MVP missed all of the 2018-19 season.

And his absence was easy to quantify.  Entering the season as the favorites to claim the Southland title, the Lumberjacks finished just ninth in the league as their win total was cut in half from 28 to 14.

With Holyfield in the mix, SFA averaged 80.5 p.p.g. two seasons ago while this season, that number dropped to 70.2.  While there were other injuries that impacted SFA, the Jacks still had their two leading scorers from 2017-18, Shannon Bogues and Kevon Harris in the mix, which demonstrates just how impactful Holyfield’s absence was.

In 2017-18, Holyfield led SFA with 6.4 rebounds per game so as you might expect, without him, SFA was hurt on the glass. The Jacks’ rebounds per game fell from 35.7 in 2017-18 to 34.0 this year, which may not seem like a huge drop but is actually rather significant over the course of an entire season.

And Holyfield was missed defensively as well.  This season, SFA gave up 73.7 points per game, (No. 227 in the nation).  That is an increase of 5.5 p.p.g from the previous season when SFA ranked No. 63 in scoring defense.

It will be important for Holyfield to get back in the strength and conditioning program in Lubbock because he has likely lost quite a bit of strength after such a prolonged injury.  He has an entire summer to get ready for one last run at an NCAA Tournament and it will be critical for the Red Raider training staff to get him back to 100%.  If they can, he will be a true impact player, as was evidenced by the impact of his absence on the Lumberjacks this season.

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