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Texas Tech basketball: Why the Red Raiders lost to TCU

By Matthew Conner

DALLAS, TX - MARCH 17: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders looks on in the first half 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: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders looks on in the first half 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) /
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Kyler Edwards #0 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders  (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
Kyler Edwards #0 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders  (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /

Tech’s stars didn’t show up

If your opponent sees its star player take over, your only hope is that your stars and leaders answer the challenge.  But while Desmond Bane went nuts Tuesday night, Tech’s best players were nowhere to be found.

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Consider that with 27 points, Bane outscored both Kyler Edwards (9 points) and Jahmi’us Ramsey (15 points) combined.  Additionally, TCU’s Kevin Samuel outscored Davide Moretti 11-8.  In other words, TCU’s two best players outscored Tech’s three best players 38-36.

At first glance, one might think Ramsey was decent.  He wasn’t.  Even though he had 15 points, he was just 6-14 from the floor and 1-6 from the 3-point line.

The problem was that eight of those points came after Bane’s outburst.  At the 8:55 mark of second half, Ramsey had just seven points and TCU was up eleven after trailing by eight points in the first half.  In other words, when the game got away from his team, he couldn’t come up with an answer.

What’s more, Edwards never got going.  After averaging 23 points per game in the two games last week, he had just 9 points and was 1-4 from deep.  In his previous two outings, he was 8-10 from 3-point range.  Tech needed that type of showing from him on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, Moretti was nowhere to be found either.  With just eight points, he was only 2-5 from deep.

It is becoming clear that unlike so many teams in the Big 12 and around the nation, Tech doesn’t have a go-to guy this season.  That’s tough to get used to after having Keenan Evans and Jarrett Culver the last two years.

Tech puts forth putrid effort against TCU. dark. Next

When everything is going wrong and this team needs a bucket to stem the tide, who does Chris Beard turn to?  While it is great to have a plethora of options capable of carrying the load on any night, someone has to take the lead when the team starts to take on water and Tuesday night, no one did.

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