Texas Tech basketball: Tariq Owens’ best games as a Red Raider

12 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block at Kansas State

The Texas Tech basketball team’s trip to Manhattan in mid-January was perhaps the most forgettable game of the season for Red Raider fans.  In the 58-45 loss, Chris Beard’s team shot just 32.7% from the field while putting up the lowest point total in any game of the current head coach’s tenure.

In that game, Culver led the way with 17 points but only one other Red Raider managed to score in double-digits; Tariq Owens.   With 12 points, the big man accounted for 26.6% of his team’s offense.  What’s more, he and Culver combined to provide 64.4% of Tech’s point total.

But while it took Culver 16 shots to get his offense against the rugged KSU defense, Owens was an efficient 5-8 from the floor.   He even went a surprising 2-4 from behind the arc, one of only two games in which he hit multiple 3-pointers this year (the other coming in the win over TCU in Lubbock in which he had 17 points).

In Manhattan, Owens was also second on the team to Culver in rebounds with six.  Two of those boards came on the offensive end of the floor.

An interesting note to this game is the fact that it was the only one this year that Owens did not start.  Whether Beard decided to insert Brandone Francis into the starting lineup in place of Owens as a strategic decision or a response to a dip in Owens’ effort on the practice court is not known.

What we do know is that the senior could have taken his demotion to the bench as a personal affront and let it impact his attitude and effort on the court.  Fortunately, Owens did what leaders do and responded to adversity with one of his best games of the season.  In a game in which it looked like all but one of his teammates were sleepwalking up and down the floor, Owens provided his team with a spark of energy on both ends of the floor as he earned back his starting role by the next game.

There were other games this year in which Owens had more points, rebounds, or blocks.  But what made this one of his best games was the fact that he was able to find it within himself to take his game to a new level after being challenged by his head coach.  That fire and competitiveness is what made Tariq Owens such a key member of this special Red Raider basketball team.