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Texas Tech basketball: Jahmi’us Ramsey still looking for early-season form

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 05: Guard Jahmi'us Ramsey #3 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders handles the ball during the second half of the college basketball game against the Eastern Illinois Panthers at United Supermarkets Arena on November 05, 2019 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 05: Guard Jahmi'us Ramsey #3 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders handles the ball during the second half of the college basketball game against the Eastern Illinois Panthers at United Supermarkets Arena on November 05, 2019 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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Texas Tech basketball fans continue to hope that freshman guard Jahmi’us Ramsey rediscovers the form that he showed earlier in the season.

When you place true freshmen in critical roles, there are going to be moments throughout the season when your team has to fight through their learning curve.  That’s what the Texas Tech basketball team is experiencing over the last few weeks as leading scorer Jahmi’us Ramsey continues to struggle to find his game.

For the season, the 6-foot-4 guard from Duncanville is averaging 14.9 points per game.  But since scoring 20 against Baylor on January 7th, he’s averaged just 9.2 points per game while reaching double-figures in just two of his last five games.

"“He’s just gotta stay the course,” Beard said on Tuesday.  “Where I enjoy watching Ramsey play is when he’s got that joy about him and he’s having fun out there and he’s competing and I’ve seen that the majority of the time this year.”"

Against Kentucky on Saturday night, Ramsey was so poor (3-9 from the field and 0-2 from deep while having two of his jump shots blocked by the man charged with locking him down, not a help-side defender) he was essentially benched during crunch time in favor of Kevin McCullar Jr.  It was the first time in his last nine games that he did not play at least 30 minutes.  The last time he saw that little time on the floor was on Thanksgiving night when he played only 25 minutes before leaving the game with a hamstring injury.

"“I think that sometimes in these games as it goes on, he really wants to do well and he really wants to help his team and he’s still learning how to do that in different ways,” Beard said.  “But in each game, he continues to make really good plays but he’s just gotta find that consistency as do all young players, really all players period.”"

Helping his team in different ways is a must when his shot fails him.  That’s one reason he was benched against Kentucky.  It felt like when his offensive game faltered, he let that impact his effort and attention to detail on the defensive end of the floor as well.

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He did not have a single rebound in that game while handing out just two assists.  But on a positive note, he did have a couple of steals.

Still, it was a lackluster showing from a player that this team counts on to be one of its better players.  With his athleticism and length, there’s no reason for Ramsey to be a non-factor in all aspects of the game meaning that even when he’s struggling to put the ball in the bucket, he has to impact the game positively in other ways.  That’s a lesson that is tough for true freshmen to learn, especially those that have been their team’s unquestioned offensive stars for the entire basketball careers.

"“Personally, I’m just trying to encourage him to run his own race and enjoy the game and the competition and just understand that the weight of the world is not on his shoulders,” Beard said.  “He’s one guy on our team and he just needs to do his role for us to be successful.”"

In his first 10 games as a Red Raider, he was in double-digits in all nine of the games that he didn’t leave early because of injury.  But Big 12 defenses are brutal and they have found that putting intense ball-pressure on him and crowding his shot and dribble seems to frustrate a player who was at one time the second-leading scorer in the conference.

That’s going to be the case again tonight against West Virginia, a team that Beard said on Tuesday was one of the best defensive teams he’s ever seen.   While we all know that Tech’s head coach is prone to hyperbole when talking about an upcoming opponent, it is true that the Mountaineers’ length on the wing is elite and that’s going to make it tough for Ramsey.

He shot just 3-14 the first time these teams met as he finished with just eight points one game after scoring 20 against Baylor.  Hopefully, that changes tonight and Ramsey is able to be a player who makes the type of impact that this team is counting on him to make because that’s going to be one of the keys to the remainder of the season.

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