Texas Tech basketball: Starting guards need to all play well at the same time

If the Texas Tech basketball team is going to reach its full potential, the three starting guards are going to have to figure out how to all play well at the same time.

It’s great that the Texas Tech basketball team has three capable scoring options in the form of the three starting guards, Davide Moretti, Kyler Edwards, and Jahmi’us Ramsey.  But while each has proven capable of carrying the offense at times, the Red Raiders aren’t going to be at their best until that trio starts playing well as a whole on a consistent basis.

Those three starting guards are the three leading scorers on the roster.  Ramsey leads the way with 15.5 points per game, Moretti is next at 13.0, and Edwards is close behind at 11.8.  Together, they comprise 55.4% of the scoring for Chris Beard.

But one factor holding this team from really hitting its stride is that the members of that trio rarely play well all in the same game.  In fact, it’s typically been just one of them that has carried the load.

For the sake of this discussion, we will focus only on games against major conference opponents this year.  It’s not worth looking at what happened in games against Double-Direction State or the Southwestern School for Lost Souls because in those games, every Red Raider should have big games.

So far, Tech has played ten games against major opponents.  But remember, Ramsey missed three-and-a-half of those games in November and December with a strained hamstring.

Thus, we have to acknowledge upfront that the sample size is somewhat limited.  Still, we are yet to see all three of these players have strong games at the same time when it matters most.

It’s also worth defining what constitutes a good game.  It isn’t fair to expect all three players to score 20 points in a game.  Rather, it’s more important for all thee players to give Tech at least 10 points and shoot at least 40% from the field.  When that happens, the three starting guards are efficient scorers, an indication that they are having success in the flow of the game without having to force the issue in a way that hurts the team.

Against Oklahoma State, the first time all year that Ramsey saw a major conference team for an entire game, he went off for 18 points on 6-11 shooting and 4-7 from 3-point range.  Moretti was also solid with 13 points on 4-8 shooting (2-5 on 3-pointers).

But that afternoon, in the 85-50 Red Raider win, Edwards had just nine points on 3-8 shooting and he was 0-5 from deep.  That’s not an efficient enough performance.  However, forward T.J. Holyfield picked up the slack with 17 points thus allowing Tech to dominate the worst team in the Big 12.

Unfortunately, life was much tougher against Baylor in the next game.  Ramsey was about the only player on the team that was able to put the ball in the bucket that night.  In the 57-52 loss, he had 20 points on 7-17 shooting including 5-10 from deep.  While that wasn’t a 40% shooting effort overall, he still had an excellent game given the fact that no one else on his team did squat on offense and the fact that Baylor is an excellent perimeter defensive team.

The problem for Tech that night was that while the freshman tried his best to save the day, the veteran guards wet the bed.  Edwards was just 4-11 from the field (2-6 from long distance) on his way to a woefully inefficient 10 points.  Meanwhile, Moretti was even worse with just eight points on 3-11 overall and 0-6 from 3-point range.

Anytime Moretti and Edwards, the only two returners from last season’s eight-man rotation, shoot just 31.8% on 22 shots and make just 2-12 from behind the arc, the Red Raiders are going to struggle mightily.

Four days later in Morgantown, it was once again only one guard of that trio that played well.  Moretti led his team with 16 points on 6-13 from the field.  He also had four of Tech’s six made 3-pointers and he was the only Red Raider with more than nine points.

Meanwhile, Edwards went just 3-12 for nine points and Ramsey was 3-14 on his way to eight points.  That duo combined to shoot just 1-9 from distance as Tech fell to West Virginia 66-54.

When Tech won at Kansas State 77-63 to end that two-game slide, all three starting guards had at least ten points.  But that doesn’t mean all were efficient scorers.

Edwards was a stud with 24 points on 9-14 shooting.  Meanwhile, Moretti chipped in with 14 points, hitting 3-6 from 3-point range as all his shots came from downtown.

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But though Ramsey had 10 points, it took him 12 shots to do so.  In all, he was able to hit just four field goals (only 1-5 from 3-point range) and get to the line only twice.

Edwards went off again in the team’s next game, a 72-52 home victory over Iowa State.  With 22 points on 6-9 shooting, he carried his team.

Moretti was also fantastic with 17 points as he nailed 6-9 shots including three from long-range.  But Ramsey was just 3-9 from the field for seven points as he struggled for the third-straight game.

That brings us to Tuesday night’s 65-54 loss at TCU.  Simply put, it’s hard to say that any of the three starting guards played particularly well.

Ramsey met our criteria for a good game with 15 points on 6-14 shooting.  But the problem with his game was that over half his points came after the Horned Frogs had taken what proved to be an insurmountable double-digit lead.  His team needed him to step up and help answer the onslaught of TCU’s Desmond Bane (27 points) but Ramsey couldn’t hit buckets during TCU’s 16-2 second-half run that decided the game.

In fairness though, he was much better than his fellow starting guards (or any other Red Raider for that matter).  Between them, Moretti and Edwards combined for just 17 points on 7-17 shooting and 3-9 from deep.

So is it fair to ask these three guards to all play well at the same time?  After all, isn’t one allowed an off day or two?

The reality is that the composition of this roster requires Moretti, Edwards, and Ramsey to fuel the offense each night.  Holyfield is a capable scorer when healthy but his right shoulder has been in a brace in recent games and it’s taken a noticeable toll on his shot.

Meanwhile, Terrence Shannon Jr. is not a versatile scorer because of his limited shooting range.  Though he’s giving Tech 11.4 p.p.g., he’s only taken over a game once this year so it doesn’t seem like a wise plan to ask him to be a primary scorer.

Today against Kentucky, the Red Raiders will likely need all three starting guards to play at a high level because Kentucky is averaging 75.7 points per game and will have an edge inside.  But if Moretti, Edwards, and Ramsey can each have the type of game they are capable of, they can carry their team to a win over the Wildcats and a great run through the final two months of the season.