Texas Tech basketball: Numbers to know ahead of showdown with No. 1 KU
In the first game vs. Tech, Kansas was a -1 on the scoreboard when Azubuike was on the floor
Kansas’ center Udoka Azubuike isn’t the best basketball player in the nation, the Big 12, or even on his own team. All three of those distinctions could go to point guard Devon Dotson. But the 7-foot, 270-pounder is without question the most physically dominant player in the game when he imposes his will.
That’s why his extremely quiet game against the Red Raiders last month was so surprising. Despite facing an undersized Tech team, he scored just five points, had eight rebounds, and blocked only one shot (he averages 13.7 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks per game) while seeing the floor for just 15:50. For the game, Tech outscored KU by a point when the Jayhawk big man was on the floor.
The reason wasn’t foul trouble, he finished the game with just three. Rather, it was the fact that Tech’s TJ Holyfield simply proved to be a matchup nightmare for Azubuike.
That afternoon in Lawrence, the grad transfer scored 19 points and hit 3-5 from three-point range. Thus, KU couldn’t afford to keep its massive center on the floor because guarding the ball all the way out to the three-point line is not what he is built to do.
Can that happen again today? Not if Holyfield doesn’t become more assertive with his shot.
In the last three games, he’s averaged just 5.3 points per game and the most shot attempts he’s had in any one contest was seven. Against KU, he let it fly 12 times, tied for his second-most attempts in a game this year.
Holyfield is playing his last home game for the Red Raiders today and perhaps that will set the stage for him to go out in style. He needs to enter this game with the mindset of being a shoot-first player who can draw Azubuike away from the basket again and get him into an area of the court and a style of play that he’s not comfortable in. If he can, perhaps KU’s Goliath will again be as much of a liability as he was in Lawrence.