Texas Tech basketball: What we learned in 2019-20

Not every grad transfer is going to be a slam-dunk

There’s no question we were spoiled by the success of 2018-19 grad transfers Matt Mooney and Tariq Owens.  Those two players were perfect fits for Chris Beard both in the way they played the game and in their mental approach to being basketball players.

That’s why as last year’s run to the NCAA Title Game unfolded, Tech became the poster child for the new grad transfer movement in the college game.  Countless articles touted Tech’s success with Mooney and Owens and the Red Raiders became as synonymous with grad transfers as they were with defense and the motion offense.

So most of us began to assume that Beard would be able to just pluck any grad transfers out of the portal and plug them into his system and not miss a beat.  However, we learned this season that not every grad transfer is going to have the type of impact that Mooney and Owens did.

This isn’t to suggest that T.J. Holyfield and Chris Clarke were disasters.  They were the team’s two leading rebounders while Clarke led the team in assists and Holyfield was fourth on the team in minutes and first in field goal percentage.

Still, neither lived up to the lofty expectations of Red Raider fans.  That’s partly due to the amplified outlook we all had after two deep March runs but it was also due to the fact that the players themselves didn’t fit Beard’s program the way Mooney and Owens did.

The biggest difference was the lack of overall aggression from both, especially on offense.  When you think about Mooney and Owens, you can remember the countless huge shots both hit and the way each was a lock-down defender.

But Clarke and Holyfield had to have led the team in passing up open shots this season and it hurt the offense.  Clarke’s desire to always want to make the perfect pass often resulted in turnovers when his high-risk pass careened off a teammate’s knees when instead he should have taken an open look.  Likewise, how many times did Holyfield turn down an open three-pointer only for the ball to continue to be passed around the perimeter until the shot clock expired or another player had to hoist a desperation heave to beat the buzzer?

Both Clarke and Holyfield were useful players at times but they ultimately lacked the intensity and street dog mentality that Mooney and Ownes possessed.  So as Tech ventures back out into the grad transfer market this year, keep in mind that the Red Raiders aren’t always going to hit the lottery in the portal because the Matt Mooneys and Tariq Owens of the world don’t grow on trees.