Texas Tech basketball: What we learned in the two losses in Vegas

This defense remains a massive work in progress

The prevailing opinion from Texas Tech basketball fans on Twitter during the last two games was that this year’s defense is nowhere near what last season’s was.  No kidding?  What did we expect?

The 2018-19 Red Raider team set a new standard for defensive excellence in the modern era of the game.  In fact, Tech set a record for the best defensive efficiency rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) in the history of the KenPom.com analytics database, which dates back to 2002.

After giving up just 84.1 points per 100 possesions last year, over two points fewer than No. 2 Michigan, this year’s team is allowing 89.3, which is 20th in the nation.  Stop and think about that.  Even this remade roster with seven freshmen and nine newcomers is a top-20 defensive team.  Somewhere in the football building, Red Raider defensive coordinator Keith Patterson must be drooling over that thought.

But there are noticeable lapses that this team has yet to correct.  First of all, until this team stops allowing guards to drive to the middle of the floor, the defense is going to struggle.  That’s a key principle that sets the tone for everything else on that end of the floor.  Against Creighton, Moretti could not keep up with the Bluejay’s quick guards and other players like Clarke and some of the freshmen did not sell out to deny the middle drive like they must in this no-middle scheme.

Additionally, the defensive rotations and the closeouts on 3-point shooters just aren’t there yet.  That’s a new concept for young players.  Just think about how willing even the top high school programs are to concede open 3-pointers to opponents because coaches still don’t think that the majority of young shooters can hit from deep with consistency.  Thus, you have to wonder if these young players still fail to grasp the urgency that is required when guarding the 3-point line and how that urgency begins when you are two passes away from the ball.

Also, remember that the 3-point line is about two feet further out this year.  That’s making it tougher for teams to close out on shooters, especially collapsing defenses like Tech.

There is also no Tariq Owens roaming the middle of the floor to clean up mistakes at the rim.  That’s not going to change this year.  But the rest of these defensive principles can become engrained in this team they way they were in each of the last two years.  But that hasn’t happened yet.