Texas Tech basketball: Loss to OSU wasn’t as damaging as many believe
Despite the negativity surrounding the Texas Tech basketball fan base after Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma State, that slip up isn’t as disastrous as it may have appeared.
Now that Texas Tech basketball has entered a new stratosphere under Chris Beard, every game takes on a greater significance as it feels like so much is on the line every time the Red Raiders hit the court. There once was a time when the stakes were so low for the program that by the time the middle of February rolled around, most fans had already checked out emotionally and only gave what happened on the hardwood a passing glance.
But times have changed and we all have massive expectations for the Red Raiders these days. That’s why there’s been so much hand wringing after Saturday’s 73-70 loss to Oklahoma State in Stillwater. Despite the fact that Tech has won only five times in program history in Stillwater and has never won there in back-to-back years (which it was attempting to do on Saturday), we all expected a Red Raider victory.
After all, OSU entered the game having won just two conference games thus far. Granted, both had come in the previous week.
Regardless, the Cowboys are a team that Tech should expect to beat. OSU won’t be going to the NCAA Tournament and they have been arguably the most disappointing team in the entire conference after returning essentially their entire rotation from last year and adding to that the No. 24 signing class in the nation.
But life on the road in the Big 12 is never a walk in the park. Tech isn’t the first upper-echelon team in the conference to stub its toe once (or twice as in Tech’s case after the loss to TCU in Fort Worth) when playing away from home.
Back on January 18th, West Virginia went to lowly Kansas State ranked 12th in the nation and was drubbed 84-68. At that point, the Wildcats were 0-4 in conference play and since then, they’ve managed to go just 1-7 overall. But still, when the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee released it’s top 16 seeds two weeks ago, West Virginia was sitting as a No. 2 seed.
That’s just what happens from time to time in one of the most brutal conferences in the country. Every road game is a dicey proposition given the way teams in this league play defense and the way the officiating is so heavily slanted towards home teams.
But when you are in the moment or trying to recover from a disappointing loss, it’s tough to keep that in mind. Because we all are now so heavily invested in Texas Tech basketball, each game feels like a life or death proposition and after a 3-point loss to Oklahoma State, the tenor surrounding the fan base has been overly pessimistic.
What seems to be the greatest concern for Red Raider fans is that the performance Beard’s team put forth on Saturday looked exactly like the frustrating performances it was putting forth a month ago. T.J. Holyfield had been one of Tech’s best players in recent weeks but he reverted back to his old ways of getting into foul trouble thus rendering him a non-factor.
In a related development, his absence meant that Tech was once again dominated on the glass the way it was at the start of Big 12 play. That was an area where the Red Raiders had been much improved over the last handful of games.
We also saw Tech take a step backward in regard to closing out a tight game in the final minutes. That’s been a problem in the majority of this season’s losses but against Oklahoma and Texas, the Red Raiders showed progress by making the key plays down the stretch when the games were one-score affairs in the final two minutes.
But just as quickly as teams can revert to old ways that may not be the most beneficial or productive, so too can they turn around and look like world-beaters the next time they step on the court. There are a number of reasons for Red Raider fans to keep from falling into the Chicken Little mindset after the loss to the Cowboys. Let’s take a look at why the sky isn’t falling in West Texas even after a loss that no one should be willing to accept.