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Texas Tech basketball: What we have learned in first two months of 2019-20

By Matthew Conner

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 10: Terrence Shannon Jr. #1 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts during the second half of their game against the Louisville Cardinals at Madison Square Garden on December 10, 2019 in New York City. The Red Raiders won 70-57. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 10: Terrence Shannon Jr. #1 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts during the second half of their game against the Louisville Cardinals at Madison Square Garden on December 10, 2019 in New York City. The Red Raiders won 70-57. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /
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Joe Toussaint #1 of the Iowa Hawkeyes drives to the basket against Kevin McCullar #15 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Joe Toussaint #1 of the Iowa Hawkeyes drives to the basket against Kevin McCullar #15 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

This freshman class is split into two clear groups

We’ve never seen a freshman class at Texas Tech as large and as highly-regarded as the 2019 class.  And after eleven games, it’s fairly clear that there are two different ties in that class; those that are ready to play and those that need time to develop.

Of the seven freshmen on the roster, three appear ready for a spot in the regular nightly rotation.  Of course, that begins with Jahmi’us Ramsey, who leads the team in points (17.0 p.p.g.) and is second in rebounding (5.9).

The highest-rated high school recruit to ever play for the Red Raiders has been as advertised.  Though we’ve only seen him on the court for six games, he’s been the team’s leading scorer four times including the first game after his return, when he had 15 points against UTRGV on Saturday.

The other freshman in the starting lineup, Terrence Shannon Jr., has also been as advertised, if not better.  Most of us were obsessed with following Ramsey’s exploits prior to coming to Tech but we kind of slept on Shannon despite the fact that the Chicago native would have been the star of any other recruiting class in program history.

We weren’t certain if his overall game was ready for a starring role right off the bat but we knew that his athleticism was going to give him a chance to help out this year.  Now, we know that even though his game is not a finished product, he is already one of the best players on the roster.

In fact, you could argue he’s been Tech’s third-best all-around player after Ramsey and Clarke.  He’s third in scoring (12.4 p.p.g.), fourth in rebounds (4.7), and fifth in minutes (26.5).  That’s more than could have been expected of the No. 90 player in the 2019 recruiting class.

The other freshman ready to play looks like Kevin McCullar, who is coming off his best game as a Red Raider with 10 points on Saturday.  He is going to continue to get plenty of minutes off the bench and his continued growth will be fun to watch.

But the other four freshmen don’t look like they are quite ready for spots in the normal rotation.  Of Clarence Nadolny, Andrei Savrasov, and Russell Tchewa, none are playing more than the 7.3 minutes per game that Nadolny has seen.  While all might be asked to play in specific situations because their skills (Nadolny’s quickness, Tchewa’s height, and Savrasov’s shooting), all have the look of projects at this point.

Meanwhile, the final freshman in this class, Tyreek Smith, is yet to play thanks to a broken foot.  Given that it seems unlikely that he would be best served to get his college basketball baptism in Big 12 play, he might be headed for a redshirt.  Thus, it is easy to break this class into two groups, those ready to play and those needing time to mature and develop.

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