Texas Tech basketball: Brandone Francis’ 5 best games as a Red Raider
16 points vs. WVU in 2019
In what turned out to be a somewhat historic night for Texas Tech, Brandone Francis led the way. As the Red Raiders tied a program-high for the largest margin of victory in a Big 12 game, Francis poured in 16 points in an 81-50 blowout of West Virginia in Lubbock.
One point short of his career high, the senior hit seven of ten shots from the field including two of his three attempts from long-range. It was his best shooting performance against a Power 5 opponent and his second-best of the entire season as he worked his way out of a shooting slump that had plagued him for much of the season.
Though West Virginia turned out to be the worst team in the conference, do not overlook the importance of this win. After all, Tech had lost four of its previous five Big 12 games including a 16-point loss at Kansas just two days prior.
After falling behind early, the Red Raiders stormed back to take a 25-14 lead via a Francis 3-pointer with 7:29 to go in the first half. Later in the first, he again put his team up eleven points with a steal and layup in traffic. After that, Tech lead 29-18 and would not see its lead dip below ten points the rest of the night.
For much of the season, Francis had struggled to be an efficient scorer as his 3-point shot failed him for the better part of a month. But against the Mountaineers, he was aggressive on both ends of the floor leading to transition buckets, which in turn, helped him regain his touch from the outside because he was able to relax after seeing the ball go in the basket a few times.
Prior to this game, Francis had not made more than one 3-pointer in four-straight games averaging just 3.25 p.p.g. over that span. But starting with the WVU game at United Supermarkets Arena, he averaged 9.2 points in his next five contests.
Francis became a key scoring option for Chris Beard off the bench this year but prior to this game, he was struggling to give the Red Raiders what they needed. That’s why this game was so critical for both Francis and his team and he rediscovered his offensive touch in time to help his team make a run in the Big 12.