Texas Tech basketball: The one area where Chris Beard has struggled since taking over
Though just about everything Chris Beard has done as head coach of the Texas Tech basketball program has worked brilliantly, throughout his tenure, his teams have struggled in the closing minute of one-score games.
Unless something magical happens over the course of the next month, the everlasting theme of the 2019-20 Texas Tech basketball season is going to be a failure to close out one-score games in the final possessions. But that’s been something Chris Beard’s teams have struggled with for most of his tenure in Lubbock.
Of course, we can’t expect everything Beard touches to turn to gold and it’s likely that even the most legendary coaches in the game have experienced more than their share of losses in one-score games. But if there is one area where Beard’s program must improve, it is in closing out tight games.
Monday’s 71-68 OT loss to Baylor in Waco was just the latest example of a game that was there for the Red Raiders to claim in the final seconds only to wind up in the loss column. That defeat was Tech’s fourth overtime loss this year and fifth-straight dating back to the 2019 National Title Game.
What’s more, Beard’s record in OT is now just 4-7 in his four years in charge. But it hasn’t been just OT games that have seen the Red Raiders struggle in the closing minutes.
In all, 16 of his 43 losses as Red Raider head coach have come either in overtime or were one-score games in the closing seconds. To put it another way, at 37% of beard’s defeats have been in games that were up for grabs as the clock wound down.
That’s a good sign in the sense that Tech has been in the fight far more often than not. And to be fair, Tech has indeed won a few such games in the Beard era as well. In addition to Beard’s four OT wins, he has guided his team to six one-possession victories.
Some of the most memorable were the 69-66 win against Florida in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament in Dallas when the Gators missed multiple 3-pointers in the closing seconds, the 72-71 triumph over No. 2 West Virginia and the 73-71 OT defeat of Texas in Lubbock earlier that season, and a 66-65 upset of No. 25 Kansas State and 77-76 win over No. 7 West Virginia both in 2017.
But the reality is that this program has not fared as well in tight games as one would expect of a program that has had more March success than any other over the last two-plus seasons. And as we look back over these frustrating losses, we will see an odd pattern develop; in far too many of them, Tech was unable to muster even a decent shot attempt to win the game.