Wreck'Em Red
Fansided

Texas Tech basketball: Why the Red Raiders were able to beat Kansas State

By Matthew Conner

DALLAS, TX - MARCH 17: The Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot performs during the game against the Florida Gators during the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at the American Airlines Center on March 17, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - MARCH 17: The Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot performs during the game against the Florida Gators during the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at the American Airlines Center on March 17, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next

The Red Raiders finally stopped turning over the basketball

As was mentioned before, the only reason Kansas State had any life in this game, especially in the first half, was because Texas Tech was uncharacteristically loose with the basketball.  And what frustrated Beard was the fact that some of his veterans were the guilty parties.

"“My guys were playing really hard,” Beard told the ESPN+ broadcast team following the game.  “We wanted to win tonight, obviously, but I thought a lot of our turnovers were from maybe trying too much.  So, [that’s] common for young teams but the frustrating thing is that a couple of our seniors were making some of those turnovers.  But a win’s a win.”"

Those two seniors, Chris Clarke and T.J. Holyfield combined for four turnovers on the night, three from Clarke.  As we just said, Holyfield’s lone mishap with the ball came on the first possession of the second half and all of Clarke’s took place prior to the first half.

But when the Red Raiders put this game on ice, they stopped giving the ball away.  From the time that freshman Kevin McCullar turned the game back in his team’s favor with an old-fashioned 3-point play at the 10:51 mark of the game, Tech turned the ball over only once and that came in the final two minutes when the game was already decided.

During that same span, KSU gave the ball away five times.  That proved to be a huge reason that the Red Raiders were able to pull away from a team they are clearly better than and hopefully, that taught this team a valuable lesson about the importance of taking care of the basketball.

Home/Texas Tech Basketball