Texas Tech basketball: There’s no need to panic after 3-straight losses

All three losses have been winnable

This is where we can choose to be optimists or pessimists.  Since we aren’t talking about Tech football but rather Tech basketball, let’s go the optimistic route.

Yes, all three of these games have been frustrating but the good news is that all three were there for the taking despite some rather unfavorable circumstances.

Iowa held a 10-point halftime lead and saw the Red Raiders lose their leading scorer early in the second half but had to gut out a win in the final two minutes.  With 1:58 to go in that game, Tech had cut the deficit to just 61-59 and that is all we could have asked for.  Tech had an opportunity to claw back into the lead of a game in which it shot 4-24 from 3-point range while its opponent shot 11-27, that’s nothing to turn our nose up at.

The next night, Tech took Creighton to OT despite being without Ramsey and facing a 14-point halftime deficit.  What’s more, Moretti was fouled on the last play of regulation but the referees swallowed their whistles because of the game situation.  Still, Tech was in the fight in a game in which the Bluejays controlled the action for most of the night.

Against the Blue Demons, in their first true road game of the year and again without Ramsey, Tech should have won the game.  All you can ask for is a 3-point lead in the final 17 seconds with Moretti on the line.  Put the Red Raiders in that scenario nine more times and they likely win all nine games.

This is not a case of a team looking inept or hapless.  Rather, it is a team still figuring out how to win together and how to finish off games.  While the first year of the Beard era shows us that eventually, these close games have to become wins, the fact that this team is right in the fight at the end of every game is a good sign.