Texas Tech basketball: KU has just enough answers to down Red Raiders

Saturday in Lawrence, the Texas Tech basketball team put a scare in the Kansas Jayhawks but couldn’t pull off the upset in a 78-75 loss.

In the first five minutes of Saturday’s game in Lawrence, the Texas Tech basketball team was in danger of being blown out of Allen Fieldhouse the way we’ve seen so many times before in this program’s history. But this is a different era of Red Raider hoops.

Despite being down 17-2 and 22-8 at points in the early going, the Red Raiders had the ball with a chance to tie the game at the end of regulation. Frustratingly, Chris Beard’s team didn’t even attempt a 3-pointer in the final 15 seconds as Jahmi’us Ramsey was twice denied while trying to drive to the rim allowing No. 3 Kansas to escape with a 78-75 win.

Tech actually outscored the Jayhawks 40-34 in the second half thanks to some timely 3-point shooting. On a day when they started out shooting horrendously in the first half, the Red Raiders finished the game 9-21 from deep after drilling seven of eleven shots from behind the arc in the second half.

Despite his struggles in the final 15 seconds, Ramsey was fantastic with 26 points, his second-straight 20-point game. Though he wasn’t all that efficient overall (8-21 from the floor), he was deadly from deep nailing 5 of 8 shots.

Surprisingly, Tech’s second-best 3-point option turned out to be senior forward T.J. Holyfield. Entering the game with just six made 3s on the year, the grad transfer was 3-5 on the day as he finished with 19 big points. The only other 3-pointer the Red Raiders made came from Davide Moretti, who was just 1-5 from deep on his way to nine points.

But every time Tech got to within a single bucket, the Jayhawks had an answer. Never trailing in the game, KU turned to their star point guard, Devon Dotson and time and again, he delivered.

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Lightning quick off the dribble, the Big 12’s leading scorer got to the rim almost at will. Shooting 9-16 on the day, he had 21 points to go along with six rebounds, three steals, and three assists.

Miles Garrett did what he always seems to do by making timely plays as well. With 15 points, he was KU’s second-leading scorer but his best work came defensively where he had three blocks and a steal.

One of those blocks came at the end of the game when Ramsey tried to drive to the bucket with his team down three points. Tech fans will say that Garrett hit Ramsey in the head while going for the block but because this is the Big 12 and the officials are almost never going to call a crucial foul on the home team in the last possession of a game, Garrett made the play that ultimately sealed the win.

I actually looked like Garrett had sealed the game a couple of minutes prior when he hit a layup to put his team ahead 76-68 with just 1:59 to play. That was part of a quick 4-0 burst that seemed to wrap things up for the home team.

But Holyfield answered with a 3, then got a steal on the next KU possession before making a pair of free throws on the other end to put his team right back into the game. Garrett would then miss a layup and when Ramsey made a shot at the rim of his own, Tech trailed only 76-75 with 29 seconds to play.

Kansas sophomore Ochai Agbaji then hit two free throws to extend the KU lead to three points and Tech couldn’t get a decent shot away to possibly force overtime. Of course, Tech fans know that this year’s team is 0-3 in OT thus far so we likely know how this one would have gone but it would have been nice to at least have an opportunity to pull out a win in the extra period.

It didn’t happen and Tech fell just short. It feels like a bit of a missed opportunity given that Tech held KU big man Udoka Azubuike to just five points and four rebounds while forcing the Jayhawks to shoot only 4-13 from deep.

Still, it is really tough to win in Lawrence because it seems like the Jayhawks always have just enough answers. Tech is now just 1-19 all-time at Allen Fieldhouse but this was only the second of those losses to come by less than 10 points.

Though moral victories are as hollow as the cardboard in a roll of toilet paper (and about as useful), Tech fans have to be proud of the way their team competed on Saturday. Falling into a huge hole early and playing without Kevin McCullar while also seeing senior Chris Clarke limited to only five minutes because of a sprained ankle suffered in the previous game, the Red Raiders pushed KU to the brink in what is the toughest road environment in the game. Unlike most trips to Lawrence, this was a game the Red Raiders can build on moving forward.

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