Texas Tech basketball: 3 players who are seeing their stock rise
Andrei Savrasov
When we look at the current Texas Tech season stats, redshirt freshman Andrei Savrasov remains the team’s lowest-scoring player at just 1.4 points per game. But after starting the season looking like a deer in headlights, the Russian native is starting to come to life and is earning increased time on the floor.
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It wasn’t just that he looked like a baby deer to begin the year, he often had the look of Bambi after watching hunters gun down his mother. When the 6-foot-7 forward found the ball in his hands, he couldn’t wait to get rid of it and almost every move he made on the floor was knee-knockingly timid. That was a bit of a surprise given that during his semester with the program last spring, we heard whispers that he had been rather impressive in team workouts and scrimmages.
In the last few games, we’ve started to see hints of the player that those inside the program witnessed in those closed workouts during the last 10 months. He’s scored in three-straight games after going without a point in the first five of the season.
He’s got a beautiful jumper and in the last three games, he’s hit 3-8 shots from behind the arc. That included back-to-back 3’s against Creighton to help get his team out of neutral in the first half.
More aggressive with that shot, he’s hoisted eleven field goal attempts since the start of the Creighton game after trying just four all year prior to that. But he’s also been important on the other end of the floor.
Looking for more size on defense behind the foul-prone T.J. Holyfield, Beard has been using Savrasov more as a defensive option in the post rather than 7-foot freshman Russell Tchewa. In two of the last three contests, Savrasov has had 10 minutes of action, the most he’s seen this year. That included Tuesday night against No. 1 Louisville.
His 2-rebound, 3-point outing against the Cards isn’t worthy of an ESPY but it is a sign that he’s beginning to play more meaningful minutes in key games. It seems like he’s become Beard’s preferred backup at power forward when Holyfield has to take a seat and that’s a role that needs to be solidified on this roster.
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He needs to continue to look for his shot because the more he nails, the more he will be able to draw other big men away from the rim. He also needs to continue to be more aggressive, especially on offense, where he passed up a couple of open shots and driving lanes that he needed to take. But it seems like he’s starting to become a player that can contribute this year and that’s something that most of us didn’t expect with the way he began his season.