Texas Tech basketball: 5 turning points in the 2018-19 season

Grinding out a 3-point win over Arkansas to snap 3-game skid

Sluggish, uninspiring and often unentertaining, this season’s 67-64 win over Arkansas in the Big 12 / SEC Challenge is likely to be forgotten by most given the unforgettable moments the 2018-19 run gave us.  But escaping with the win in Lubbock thanks to a last minute defensive stop by Jarrett Culver proved to be one of the most important turning points of the season.

Tech entered the game on a season-long 3-game losing streak.  After beating Texas in Austin, Tech lost at home to Iowa State and on the road to Baylor and Kansas State, the latter of which was an ugly 45-point showing.

That’s why the out of conference game against the Hogs came at a perfect time as it helped removed some of the pressure of the conference race and allowed Tech to just focus on playing better basketball.  But for long stretches of this game, the offensive woes that had crept up in the losing streak continued to plague the home team.

After building a 60-48 lead in the second half, Tech was unable to make a field goal in the final 7:21 of the game as the Hogs cut the lead to 65-62 and had the ball in the final minute with a chance to tie the game.

But Culver’s defensive pressure forced Arkansas guard Kesean Embry-Simpson to kick the ball resulting in a turnover that eventually sealed the win for the Red Raiders.  It was fitting that one of the most important plays of the season was a huge defensive play from the Big 12 Player of the Year who dove on the the floor to help start the sequence that resulted in the ball going back to his team.

This was an ugly game and less than impressive given that Arkansas would finish the season 18-16 and miss the NCAA Tournament.  But to break out of a losing streak, it often takes guts and a willingness to fight through your low points as the Raiders did against the Hogs.  Two nights later, Tech blew out TCU 84-65 in Lubbock and the Red Raiders would lose only once more for the remainder of the regular season.

But had they failed to put the Razorbacks away to end their losing streak, the negativity and doubt that had begun to surface in the previous two weeks might have become an avalanche.  Though most will not immediately think of this game as a defining moment from this season, this less than ascetically pleasing win over a mediocre SEC team proved to be a key moment in the 2018-19 season.