Texas Tech basketball: Ramsey and Shannon outpacing even Culver and Zhaire

The Texas Tech basketball team is being led by a pair of true freshmen in Jahmi’us Ramsey and Terrence Shannon who are off to a better start than even Jarrett Culver and Zhaire Smith got off to in 2017-18.

When thinking about fantastic freshmen in the history of Texas Tech basketball, it doesn’t take long at all before the names of Jarrett Culver and Zhaire Smith come up.  Certainly, that duo is the most successful pair of freshmen we’ve seen in the modern era of the program but this year, Jahmi’us Ramsey and Terrence Shannon are off to a start that blows away what Culver and Smith did in 2017-18.

Through 11 games, Ramsey is leading the team with 17 points per game and is second on the team in rebounds at 5.9 per game.  Meanwhile, Shannon is averaging 12.4 points and 4.5 boards which rank third and fifth respectively on the team.

It’s hard to fathom but this year’s tandem of freshmen stars is outpacing the fantastic work that Culver and Smith gave their team two seasons ago in what proved to be a special Elite Eight season, the first in program history.

That year, Smith was second on the team in scoring with 11.3 points per game while Culver was third at 11.2.  On the glass, Smith was the team leader with 5 per game while Culver was again right behind him at 4.8.

Keep in mind though that unlike Ramsey and Shannon this year, Tech did not start both of their freshmen stars right off the bat in 2017-18.  Smith did get the start in the season opener against South Alabama and he led the team with 14 points.  Meanwhile, Culver came off the bench to give Chris Beard just two points in 16 minutes.

In fact, it wasn’t until the 11th game of the year that Culver got his first start.  Against Florida Atlantic in Lubbock, he played 16 minutes and posted 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 steals in a 90-54 win.

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This year, we didn’t have to wait at all to see Tech’s two highly-prized freshmen start together for the first time.  In the season-opener against Eastern Illinois, Ramsey had 19 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals.  Meanwhile, Shannon put up a stat line that has become rather common for him this year with 11 points, 3 boards, and an assist.

And just like he’s done all year, Shannon got to the line that night making 7-8 attempts.  This year, he leads the team with 55 free-throws attempted and he is third in free-throw percentage at 85.5%.

Of course, we have yet to see what Ramsey and Shannon will do in Big 12 play as the competition ramps up.  In fact, because of the hamstring injury that cost him four games, we’ve yet to see Ramsey play a full game against a major conference team.

But for now, consider how much better of a start this year’s freshman duo has had comparted to Culver and Smith’s excellent start to 2017-18.

In the first eleven games thus far, Ramsey and Shannon have combined for 15 double-digit games with three of those being 20-point games.  At this point in the year two seasons ago, Culver and Smith also had 15 double-digit games but with only one 20-point showing.  Also, keep in mind that Ramsey’s season has been cut short by four games so this year’s freshmen likely would have three or four more double-digit games to their credit given that Ramsey has had just one game where he hasn’t reached at least 13 points.

In all, this year’s freshmen stars are averaging a combined 29.4 points and 10.4 rebounds which is nearly seven points and a half a rebound more than the two freshmen starters who led Tech on such a fantastic run in 2018.

What’s more, Ramsey and Shannon are both averaging more points per game as freshmen than such legends of the program as Andre Emmett, Jarius Jackson, Keenan Evans, and Rayford Young did in their first years as Red Raiders.  Obviously, their first runs through Big 12 play will be revelatory but what we already know is that these two true freshmen are going to be as integral to Tech’s success as any freshmen to ever come through Lubbock.