Texas Tech basketball: How the Red Raiders beat No. 1 Louisville

T.J. Holyfield was a positive factor

Red Raider fans have been pretty tough on grad transfer T.J. Holyfield during this losing streak and it’s been justified.  But on Tuesday night, he was a positive factor for his team and that proved to be important.

His stats will not jump off the page.  He had eight points (three of which came on a garbage-time 3 just before the final buzzer) three rebounds and three assists.

But his most important contribution was the three-steal-effort he had on the defensive end of the floor.  Like Clarke, Holyfield’s ability to be active and a nuisance in the post defensively was crucial because he himself was giving up three inches to the Cardinal forwards.

Once again, he picked up four fouls.  That makes six-straight games in which he’s had four or more.

But this time, he didn’t find himself saddled with his third foul in the first half meaning he was able to be on the floor a bit more in the first half than he’s been in recent games and that helped prevent his team from falling into a sizeable hole early on as was the case against Iowa and Creighton.

He also avoided the cheap fouls 90 feet from the basket.  He came close to fouling out late in the game but instead, he drew a critical charge to thwart a Louisville rally.  In short, for the first time in a while, Holyfield made positive plays in crunch time.

Against DePaul, Holyfield was scoreless and the game before against Creighton, he had only two points.  I still think he is a better all-around offensive player than he’s shown lately and eventually, his mid-range game will round into form (remember that he’s only 9 games into his return from a year on the sidelines because of an injured shoulder) but even if we just get the types of performances we saw on Tuesday from Holyfield all year, he will be a positive factor for his team.