In this installment of the Texas Tech basketball all-decade team, we look at the best shooting guards from the last ten years.
There’s no more glamorous position in basketball than that of shooting guard. And the Texas Tech basketball program has had its share of amazing snipers.
Maybe it is because my generation was introduced to the game when Michal Jordan was at his peak and then we watched as Kobe Bryant took over the mantle of the game’s best player during our college years but most of us love watching shooting guards more than any other position.
However, in the modern-day game, every guard on the floor considers himself a shooter. But for most of the existence of the game as we know it with defined positions and set roles, shooting guard was what everyone wanted to play.
Looking back through the history of Red Raider hoops, there’s no shortage of amazing marksmen who could light it up from anywhere on the floor. In fact, one could argue that there have been as many talented off-guards come through Lubbock as there have been players of any position.
All we have to do is look at the list of career 1,000-point scorers and we will find plenty of shooting guards. No. 2 on Tech’s all-time career scoring list is Jarrius Jackson who scored 2,221 points from 2003-07.
The No. 8 all-time scorer is Lance Hughes, who had 1,762 career points. But not only was he a fantastic shooter, but he was also an amazing athlete who won the NCAA Slam Dunk Competition at the 1995 Final Four.
Right behind him at No. 9 is my former high school basketball coach Bubba Jennings. The Clovis, New Mexico product was a legend at Tech from 1981-85 and had he played when there was a 3-point line, he likely would be the program’s top scorer. As it stands though, he still amassed 1,760 points.
One of the best shooters in the last two decades in Lubbock, Alan Voskuil scored 1,106 points from 2005-09. Likewise, Stan Bonewitz was deadly from deep as he finished his career with 1,090 points playing from 1995-1999.
It used to be that players who were the 2-guard were the ones through which the offense was expected to run. They were usually the team’s best player and most sets were designed with the idea of freeing up the shooting guard for a clean look.
Those days might be behind us now as the positionless basketball craze has made every player on the court an offensive focal point. That’s certainly true in Chris Beard’s motion offense which doesn’t run set plays but relies on principles of passing and screening to get open looks for any player.
Thus, it is tougher these days to delineate if a player is a point guard or shooting guard or small forward. So keep that in mind as we move forward because some of the players we discuss could also fit into the point guard category because they were also asked to share quite a bit of the ball-handling chores for their team.
So let’s dive into our list of the three best shooting guards from the past ten years of Texas Tech basketball. But before we do, let’s pay some respect to the careers of some guys that just missed the cut.