Texas Tech basketball: The all-time Chris Beard era team

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Zach Smith #11 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

The reserve bigs

Chris Beard loves versatile big men who can play solid interior defense while possessing an all-around offensive game. That’s why his bench would feature three 6-foot-8 forwards who were representative of the new breed of power forward.

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Like so many players on this team, both T.J. Holyfield and Anthony Livingston were just in the program for one year as both were graduate transfers. But each was a significant contributor during their brief Red Raider careers.

Holyfield was the 2019-20 team’s only player over 6-foot-7 to average double-digits in minutes played per game. Along the way, he had an up-and-down season that saw him fight through an injury that caused him to spend most of the year with a brace on his surgically repaired right shoulder.

Still, he managed to average 8.9 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. What’s more, he finished 5th in the Big 12 in blocks with 50, an average of 1.6 per game.

Livingston was a true pick-and-pop big man who could fill it up from 3-point range. During Beard’s debut season (2016-17), the Washington D.C. native averaged 9.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

Livingston was a 39.9% shooter from behind the arc as 55 of his 111 made shots were 3-pointers. That would be a great weapon to bring off the bench, especially against teams that like to deploy zone defenses.

Finally, Beard would love to have Zach Smith to protect the rim when Owens needed a break. The Plano, Texas native is second in school history with 158 career blocks, just four behind Tony Battie and had he not missed half of his senior season (2017-18) with a foot injury, he would have shattered that mark.

One of the most athletic players in program history, Smith averaged 8.8 points, 6 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game in his four years in the program. Not necessarily comfortable shooting from deep, Smith was known for getting many of his points off of lobs or on putbacks, something that neither Holyfield nor Livingston were known for. Thus, Smith’s athleticism would be a huge component of the all-time Chris Beard team as he would be a perfect backup for Owens and he would give Beard a second rim protector.

Next. The all-time James Dickey era team. dark

If you can find a hole in the all-time Chris Beard team, you are looking a lot closer than I am. Keep in mind, such players as Justin Gray, Brandone Francis, Kyler Edwards, Niem Stevenson, Terrence Shannon Jr., and so many more have been left off this team despite being excellent players in their own right. In the end, the Chris Beard team would be loaded with talent. What’s scary for other Big 12 teams to think about though is the fact that many of the players about to enter the program in upcoming years will probably push a number of the above players off of this list.

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