Texas Tech basketball: Why the Red Raiders were able to crush ISU

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ISU’s Rasir Bolton was a non-factor

We didn’t spend a ton of time talking about Penn State transfer Rasir Bolton in the leadup to this game.  But if ISU was going to pull off the upset, their second-leading scorer was likely going to have to have a big day.

He didn’t.  In fact, with only 7 points, he put up less than half of his 14.3 p.p.g. season average.

Everyone around the Big 12 knows that Cyclone point guard Tyrese Haliburton is the head of the snake in Ames.  But while he is almost always going to get his, the Cyclones can’t win many games if his wingman Bolton doesn’t come through.

A 6-foot-3 sophomore, Bolton has four 20-point games on the season.  That includes 22 points in a victory over Alabama, 23 points in a defeat of OU, and 29 big points in a loss to Florida A&M.  In other words, he can score.

But Saturday, he was held to just 3-9 shooting and 0-2 from distance.  What’s more, he only got to the free-throw line once.  That’s been a big part of his game as he’s averaging 4.2 trips to the line per contest.

For what it’s worth, Haliburton wasn’t as dominant as he’s capable of being either.  In fact, he was rather unimpressive.  He did score 13 points to lead his team but he was just 5-12 from the field.

Still, that type of effort isn’t what killed his team.  Rather, it was his teammates’ inability to shoulder their portion of the burden that proved most costly.   That was most true of Bolton, a player that the Cyclones brought to Ames specifically to play the role of Robin to Haliburton’s Batman.  But on Saturday, he looked more like Mr. Freeze given the way he shot the ball.