Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders blow out Cyclones in Ames

Terrence Shannon Jr. had a steady game after two-straight poor outings

While the exploits of Ramsey and Edwards carried Tech in Ames, what might be the most important development from this contest was the fact that freshman forward Terrence Shannon Jr. looked more like the player he’s been all year than the one we’ve seen over the past week.

Coming off the bench for the second-straight game, Shannon had seven points, four steals, two rebounds, and two assists.  That came on the heels of his two worst back-to-back games of the year.

On Wednesday, the Chicago native played a season-low eight minutes while failing to register any stats.  The game prior, he managed just three points and two rebounds in 17 minutes against Oklahoma State prompting Chris Beard to inset redshirt freshman Kevin McCullar Jr. into the starting lineup in his place Wednesday night.

McCullar had a team-high 11 rebounds to go along with six points in Ames but the reality is that Beard needs both players to be at their best as we head towards March.  In all, Tech’s bench provided 18 points to double-up the ISU bench, which was nice to see after the Red Raiders were outscored 18-2 in bench scoring by Kansas State three days ago.

It’s fair to wonder if the second-half concussion Shannon sustained against TCU on February 10th had continued to impact his performance in the games since despite his being cleared to play.  If that was indeed the case, Saturday’s showing was a positive sign that this vital member of the Red Raider team is back to being a key contributor.  Regardless of why Shannon was better in Ames, his bounce-back game was one of the biggest developments of the day.