Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders now on the bubble after loss to Texas

After Saturday’s 68-58 loss at home to Texas, the Texas Tech basketball team is squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble given what the schedule holds next week.

Though it isn’t pleasant, it’s time for Texas Tech basketball fans to accept the fact that their team is on the NCAA Tournament bubble. Having now dropped two-straight games after Saturday’s 68-58 loss to the Longhorns in Lubbock and set to face No. 2 Baylor and No. 1 Kansas to end the regular season next week, an NCAA Tournament bid is no longer a guarantee for Chris Beard and his team.

In fact, unless Tech can pull off an upset of a top-5 team next week, the Red Raiders will head into the Big 12 Tournament on a four-game losing streak. That’s because Saturday, they couldn’t match the Longhorns’ defensive intensity and clutch shot-making in front of a capacity home crowd.

The Horns extended their perimeter defense to pick up the Tech guards near mid-court thus forcing the Red Raiders to make plays off the dribble, something that’s troubled Beard’s team all year. As a result, the home team shot just 39.2% from the floor and 7-21 (33%) from three-point range.

Also sporadically mixing in a full-court press and a half-court trap to interrupt the Red Raider guards as they tried to initiate the offense, UT often kept Tech from getting into its offensive sets until deep into the shot clock and time and again, the late-clock shots did not fall.

Jahmi’us Ramsey led the Red Raiders with 13 points. That’s quite the improvement over his scoreless outing Tuesday in Oklahoma City against OU but when you consider he was just 4-13 from the floor, it’s clear that the Longhorn defense was able to impact his comfort level all day.

UT did an even better job of shutting down Kyler Edwards. The sophomore went for just five points on 2-11 shooting. What’s more, he had two turnovers and just one assist, which was key being as he was often asked to play the role of the pseudo point guard and initiate the offense.

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Perhaps the only two Red Raiders that had decent offensive performances were freshmen, Kevin McCullar and Terrence Shannon Jr. McCullar was 5-6 on the afternoon and even hit a rare 3-pointer on his way to 12 points while Shannon came off the bench to score ten points on 4-8 shooting as he also hit a shot from behind the arc.

Meanwhile, Andrew Jones led all scorers with 22 big points for the Longhorns. He and Courtney Ramey were the only UT players in double-digits but it was enough to take down Tech because of the defense the Horns deployed.

Keeping the Tech guards off balance all game long, Texas held the Red Raiders to 14 points below their season scoring average. One big reason was that in the second half, Texas committed just six fouls and sent Tech to the free-throw line only once. In the first half, when Tech built a 37-30 lead at the break, Tech was 10-12 at the line.

"“I thought Texas was the more aggressive team and the second half offensively they set the tone early,” Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. “Defensively, they were taking a lot away from us today so it’s no doubt about it’s kind of the tale of two halves. They were the more aggressive team the second half. Congratulate Texas and Shaka (Smart). I have been consistent by telling you guys that they are one of the hottest teams in college basketball right now and today that proved to be true again.”"

Now, the Red Raiders have to wonder if their once-firm grasp on an NCAA Tournament bid is starting to loosen. Tech was considered by most experts to be between a No. 7 to No. 9 seed prior to their two losses this week and now they are trending downward at the wrong time of the year.

Now, a pair of games against the top two teams in the Big 12 are Tech’s only opportunities to get back on track. Monday’s game in Waco will come against a Baylor team that will be fully motivated to play its best after being upset Saturday in Fort Worth by TCU. Then, Tech will host Kansas, which has won 14-straight games, on Saturday.

"“Our season is on the line. I feel like we’ve got to, come out ready,” Moretti said. “We’ve got to find our consistency because, I feel like now our back is against the wall and we got to bounce back. That’s the first thing we got to focus on you know better for the first one, then Kansas.”"

All year, we’ve been waiting for Tech to get another shot at the NCAA Tournament after coming up short in last year’s NCAA Championship Game. Now, if this team doesn’t figure out how to come up with some much-needed wins between now and Selection Sunday, the only thing we will be able to assume when the brackets are revealed is that we will be on the edge of our seat, and not out of excitement.

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