Texas Tech basketball: Inside the box score of the victory over KSU

Texas Tech was much better at the free-throw line than it was in Stillwater

If there was one stat that cost Tech the game in Stillwater, it was free-throw shooting.  In the three-point loss, the Red Raiders were just 12-20, which was shocking given that Tech is second in the Big 12 as a team at 74.9%.

Against the Wildcats, Tech was back to being on-point at the line going 15-17 (88.2%).  Meanwhile, KSU was just 12-19 (63.2%).

Interestingly, Tech did not benefit from the home team free throw edge that has become commonplace in the Big 12 these days for almost any team.  That was something OSU took advantage of on Saturday when they were awarded 38 free-throw attempts (making 31) against Tech at Gallaher-Iba Arena.

But while the Red Raiders were given two fewer trips to the line at home than KSU, they had an edge because they made their attempts the way a good team is expected to.  Davide Moretti (4-4), Kyler Edwards (3-3), and Kevin McCullar (2-2) were all perfect on the night while T.J. Holyfield was 1-2 and Jahmi’us Ramsey hit 5-6.

It’s hard to fathom how a team just simply goes cold as a collective in one game but that’s happened to Tech in two losses this year.  Against Baylor, the Red Raiders made just 5-12 free throws in a five-point loss that would Tech have won might have altered the Big 12 and national landscape significantly.

That was the case for Tech again on Saturday in the loss to the Cowboys.  Fortunately, the trend didn’t carry over to Wednesday night and that was a huge factor in a game that proved to be more closely-contested than we expected it to be.