Texas Tech basketball: What we learned in the two losses in Vegas
After the Texas Tech basketball team dropped its first two games of the year at the Las Vegas Invitational, let’s take a look at what we learned about this rebuilt team.
It’s safe to say that the Texas Tech basketball team had a less than happy Thanksgiving holiday this year. In a bit of a surprise, the No. 12 Red Raiders dropped back-to-back games to Iowa and Creighton in the Las Vegas Invitational in what had to serve as a wake-up call for everyone from the players to the fans.
Of course, the coaching staff was probably less surprised than anyone given how Chris Beard and Co. view every opponent as if they are the 1990s Chicago Bulls. But for the rest of us, it was a not so gentle reminder that this year’s team will likely remain a work in progress until well into conference play (though essentially, every team is a work in progress throughout the entire season).
Watching the two close losses that followed essentially the same script: fall behind early because of a lack of intensity, watch the other team light it up from outside while you can’t throw it in the ocean, fight back to make things interesting in the final minutes, fail to make the winning plays; what stood out was that this team is still looking for leadership.
It seems that the returners, Kyler Edwards and Davide Moretti, are not necessarily wired to be vocal leaders nor do the grad transfers Chris Clarke and T.J. Holyfield. That’s an area where this program desperately misses Norense Odiase, who was without question the emotional and vocal leader for the Red Raiders over the last two seasons.
When Odiase spoke, which wasn’t all that often, everyone listened. Is there such a presence on this year’s team? Not right now.
We can all lament the loss of players like Jarrett Culver, Matt Mooney, and Tariq Owens for what they brought to the floor and we’d love to have any of those stars from last year’s team back for another run. But what might be most missed is the no-nonsense, lead by example nature of Odiase, one of the toughest players in program history.
How many times did the big man from Forth Worth seem to come down with key rebounds or loose balls during crunch time? When games came down to bare-knuckle brawls in the final two minutes or OT the way this week’s two losses did, Odiase was almost always the tone-setter for Beard and someone with that mentality and toughness would have paid tremendous dividends against the Hawkeyes and the Bluejays.
Never was that more apparent than in Friday when in OT, Creighton got three shots on one possession because their role players outhustled Tech’s. It’s been rare for a player to out Texas Tech a Beard team with grit and effort but that’s what Creighton’s Christian Bishop did when the game was on the line. We didn’t see that happen too often with Norense Odiase on the floor.
There is obviously a ton of work for this team to do with just a month to go until Big 12 play begins. Developing someone who can lead the team through the toughest of battles may be at the top of the list.
This week was the most revelatory of the year thus far and what was revealed was not what we were hoping to see. Let’s take a closer look at what we learned about this year’s Texas Tech basketball team in Las Vegas.