Texas Tech basketball: 3 reasons Red Raiders lost to Kansas
Saturday, the Texas Tech basketball team lost another close game to a very good team by falling 78-75 at Kansas so let’s look at three reasons the Red Raiders came up short.
After losing to Kansas 78-75 in Lawrence on Saturday, the Texas Tech basketball team is just 13-8 on the year. But that is a misleading record. In fact, this might be the best team to ever enter the first week of February with eight losses.
The problem is that the current version of the Red Raiders just can’t seem to get over the hump in big moments. That was true again inside Allen Fieldhouse when Tech had a chance to tie the game in the final 15 seconds but was unable to do so.
In all, Tech has lost only three games by double-digits, against Iowa in Las Vegas (72-61), at TCU (65-54), and at TCU (64-54). The other five defeats have all either gone to overtime or been up for grabs in the final minute.
That’s where the inexperience and youth of this year’s team have continued to show up in a negative way. Sometimes the most difficult thing for a revamped and youthful team to figure out is how to close out tight games.
Remember, in crunch time, Tech is having to rely on a roster comprised completely of players that have never been their team’s go-to option in the clutch as collegiates. This team continues to try to find the player that it can turn to when the game is on the line and until it does, outcomes, like we saw in Lawrence, are going to continue.
That was a huge difference between the Red Raiders and Jayhawks on Saturday. Down the stretch, there was no question that KU was going to run everything through their point guard Devon Dotson and the sophomore delivered more often than not.
But while Bill Self and his entire team know exactly what the role of each player is in make-or-break situations, Tech is still trying to define those roles for their players. Against DePaul, it was Terrence Shannon that was asked to carry his team down the stretch. Against Baylor, Tech turned to Jahmi’us Ramsey. In the loss to Kentucky, Tech asked Davide Moretti to create in the final minutes. In Manhattan against Kansas State, Kyler Edwards played the hero for his team.
Though what we’ve seen from the Red Raiders in the last three games has proven that this team is capable of beating any team in the nation, even on the road, the lack of a go-to playmaker is holding the Red Raiders back.
It’s great to have a variety of players that Beard can rely upon but at some point, every great team needs an alpha dog, one who will take matters upon himself when everything hangs in the balance. There’s about a month left for that player to emerg for the Red Raiders before postseason play begins and hopefully, games such as we witnessed against KU will eventually bring forth a closer for Chris Beard.
Saturday was another learning experience for this team, another high-pressure situation where the crunch-time roles were hopefully fortified for future situations by the burning away of impurities. It was a game that was in the balance until the end, something that has been rather rare for Texas Tech in Lawrence, but like so many other games this year, this one didn’t fall Tech’s way. So let’s look at three reasons the Red Raiders have nothing but another moral victory to show for their efforts.