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Texas Tech basketball: Saturday’s results that helped the Red Raiders

By Matthew Conner

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - JANUARY 18: Jordan Goldwire #14 of the Duke Blue Devils watches as Samuell Williamson #10 of the Louisville Cardinals dunks the ball during their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 18, 2020 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - JANUARY 18: Jordan Goldwire #14 of the Duke Blue Devils watches as Samuell Williamson #10 of the Louisville Cardinals dunks the ball during their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 18, 2020 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Saturday was another exciting day of college basketball around the nation and the following results were beneficial for the Texas Tech basketball team.

After the calendar changes to a new year in the middle of each season, fans around the nation begin to scoreboard watch being as Selection Sunday starts to appear on the horizon.  Fortunately for Texas Tech basketball fans, some of the most notable results from Saturday’s games fell in the Red Raiders’ favor.

Of course, most important was the fact that Chris Beard and his team took care of business against Iowa State in a 72-52 victory in Lubbock.  That moved Tech to 12-5 overall and 3-2 in conference play.

Around the rest of the Big 12, form held as the favorites won all of the games with one notable exception.  In Manhattan, Kansas State pulled out its first conference win of the season in an 84-68 throttling of No. 12 West Virginia.

It’s hard to imagine that the team Texas Tech dominated on the glass Tuesday night in the Wildcats only lost the rebounding battle against the Big 12’s best rebounding team 29-28.  What’s more, KSU shot 50% from 3-point range and 59.2% overall.

Kansas State is the lowest-scoring team in the Big 12 and West Virginia is the second-best defensive team in the league.  So of course, the Wildcats put up 84 points on Saturday after failing to score more than 63 points in any Big 12 game thus far.

Importantly for the Red Raiders, this game dropped West Virginia back into a tie with Tech, OU, and TCU in the conference standings.  Of course, Tech will have a shot at avenging their loss in Morgantown when the Mountaineers come to Lubbock on January 29th.

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Because Tech and WVU are now even in the standings, if they meet while still tied in the league race, Tech could take a huge step ahead by winning the rematch in what could be a key battle for Big 12 positioning and a potential higher seed in the NCAA Tournament.  By dropping a game against the last-place team in the conference, WVU hurt its chances of claiming the Big 12 crown by likely having to pull off an upset or two in order to get this game back.

Outside of the conference, other games also worked out well for the Red Raiders.  That was especially true of the day’s most high-profile game.

In Durham, North Carolina, No. 11 Louisville took down No. 2 Duke 73-73.  Freshman David Johnson was huge with 19pts, 7ast, 4reb, 3stl, 2blk.

Thus far in 2019-20, the Red Raiders own only one truly resume-building win.  Of course, that was December’s 70-57 victory over Louisville at Madison Square Garden.

But despite the fact that the Cardinals were No. 1 at that time, it has felt like that victory has lost some of its shine as Louisville has also lost games to Florida State and Kentucky.  However, they have since rattled off 4-straight wins including this monumental game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Tech needs Louisville to continue to remain one of the nation’s best teams.  It would be ideal if they can win the ACC because that would only serve to make the victory over the Cardinals all the more valuable when the selection committee meets in March.

As was the case with the Texas Tech victory over Louisville, this year has been uncanny in the number of times an unranked team has taken down a top 5 team.  Another instance occurred Saturday when DePaul beat No. 5 Butler.

Red Raider fans might still be lamenting December’s 65-60 OT loss at DePaul.  Keep in mind that was the game that Tech led by three points in the final seconds when Davide Moretti uncharacteristically missed a free throw thus allowing DePaul to tie the game and force OT.

While it would have been great to own a win over the 13-5 Blue Demons, the fact that they now have a huge win over the No. 5 team in the nation does help elevate Tech’s strength of schedule, which is a factor in the selection process.  Of course, a victory in that game would be far more advantageous but still, seeing DePaul have success only helps the Red Raiders because it shows that one of the most frustrating losses of the season, one which came without Jahmi’us Ramsey, was nothing to be ashamed of.

Another Big East team that Texas Tech fell to in OT, Creighton beat Providence 78-74 on Saturday.  At 15-4, the Blue Jays are 3-3 in Big East play and ranked No. 25.  Of Course, that’s another win that the Red Raiders feel like they should have won but the fact remains that any success Creighton has helps improve Tech’s resume.

It’s wonderful for Texas Tech basketball fans to have a reason to be paying close attention to what is happening around the nation now that our program is relevant and what happens in other high-profile games now matters in regards to the Red Raiders.  So long as Tech continues to take care of business the way they did against Iowa State and other games break right for them, it could help position us for another unforgettable spring.

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