Texas Tech basketball adds grad transfer T.J. Holyfield

Can he be productive against tougher competition?

For grad transfers like Holyfield and Matt Mooney, who jump up to a Power 5 program after excelling at in the mid-major ranks, there is reason to wonder how their productivity will be impacted by playing against better competition on a gamy-by-game basis.  And this season, we saw it take Mooney a little bit of time to adjust before he truly found his game and became the type of player the Red Raiders expected him to be all along.

As for Holyfield, he has considerable experience against major conference teams.   In his career, he’s played a Power 5 team on ten occasions including games against Tech, Kentucky, Baylor, LSU, Arkansas, Missouri, West Virginia and Arizona State.

In those ten games, he’s averaged 9.5 points and 4.4 rebounds.  In other words, he’s put up numbers just slightly below his career averages against all teams.  What’s more, he’s hit double-digits on the scoreboard in half of those games.

Against Tech in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, he put up 10 points and four rebounds before picking up his fifth foul.  Earlier that season, he had huge games  against Mississippi State (19 points, 8 boards) and Missouri (18 points and 7 boards).

As a freshman, he had 15 points and 5 rebounds against Notre Dame and 12 points and 5 rebounds against Baylor in his first ever college game.   But life in the Big 12 will require him to take his game to a different level, especially physically.  Fortunately, his play against major college opponents suggests that he will be able to compete in one of the most physically demanding and competitive conferences in the country.