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

6 of 6

(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

Losing to West Virginia in Big 12 Tournament refocused the Red Raiders

Sometimes we forget that college athletes are still young adults who are often prone to the same mental lapses that we have come to expect of people in their late teens and early 20’s. And in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament, the Red Raiders had a collective loss of focus resulting in an upset at the hands of the No. 10 seeded West Virginia Mountaineers.

More from Wreck'Em Red

Riding a 9-game winning streak to close the regular season and claim a share of the conference title, Tech came out of the gates lacking the energy and urgency with which they had played over the course of the previous month. And that’s something that should not have been surprising from a group of college kids that had spent the previous week hearing their entire school and community praise them for brining home the program’s first Big 12 title.

Falling behind by 16 points in the second half before a comeback that saw the Red Raiders take a 69-68 lead in the final minutes, Chris Beard’s team could not close out the motivated Mountaineers in a 79-74 loss. And West Virginia’s 44-30 rebound edge, which included 19 offensive rebounds, was proof that the Red Raiders were out-hustled and out-played.

But in the aftermath, the Red Raiders used this awful showing as a refocusing point ahead of the NCAA Tournament. Beard had his players tape a card with the game’s score to the back of their phones as a constant reminder to avoid a similar letdown in the big dance and that seemed to get his point across.

Sometimes, we all need some adversity to remind us that we can’t afford to just coast our way through life. After pushing as hard as possible to win 9-straight games, including an epic win at Iowa State to secure the conference title, the Red Raiders saw last-place West Virginia on the schedule and let up only to pay the price. But Tech was able to learn from this loss, as Chris Beard turned his team’s no-show into a teaching and motivational tool that was gifted to him at perhaps the perfect moment.

All season this team thrived on being discounted by the experts and picked to finish near the bottom of the conference. But after being one of two teams to dethrone Kansas, they understandably lost some of that edge.

Next. Top 5 games of 2018-19. dark

However, becoming the first top-two seeded team in Big 12 Tournament history to lose to a No. 10 seed was embarrassing and it quickly humbled the Red Raiders. But it proved to be the perfect slap in the face to get the attention of the team and provide them with the fire needed to fuel their run to Minneapolis.

Home/Texas Tech Red Raiders News