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Texas Tech basketball: Big men in transfer portal that could help Red Raiders

By Matthew Conner

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA - FEBRUARY 08: Matt Haarms #32 of the Purdue Boilermakers reacts to a play in the game against the Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall on February 08, 2020 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA - FEBRUARY 08: Matt Haarms #32 of the Purdue Boilermakers reacts to a play in the game against the Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall on February 08, 2020 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) /
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Mattias Markusson – Loyola Marymount

If Haarms isn’t your cup of tea, how about another 7-foot-3 center?  Mattias Markusson put up 10.2 ppg and 6.3 rpg this season for Loyola Marymount and Goodman lists Tech as being a potential destination.

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The native of Sweeden blocked less than one shot per game this year, which is not ideal given his height.  Tech desperately needs to find a player capable of protecting the basket and being a human eraser after losing last year’s leading shot-blocker, Holyfield so that’s a drawback of Markusson’s game.

However, it appears that he has an excellent offensive skill set.  He shot 58.6% from the floor this season and 76.1% from the foul line.

"“High-character young man,” a scout told Goodman. “Legit 7-3. Good hands and a double-double guy. Works hard and driven to be good. Tremendous shooting touch.”"

That shooting touch doesn’t extend to the 3-point line though.  He was just 1-5 this year from deep and has attempted only six shots from beyond the arc in his career (not that anyone wants a 7-foot-3 player to shoot from deep all that often).

Thus, is he capable of being a fit in Tech’s motion offense?  Perhaps so, given that the rest of the team will be stocked with 3-point weapons.  The key will be to ensure that he is the only player on the court that other teams don’t have to fear when he has the ball on the outside.

We saw this year that when Tech had two players like Chris Clarke and Kevin McCullar on the floor together, neither of whom was a good outside shooter, teams were able to sag off of them and clog the driving lanes, which made the Red Raider offense far less potent.

Next. The all-time Chris Beard era team. dark

Still, it appears that Beard has at least expressed some interest in Markusson.  Thus, file his name away in the back of your mind.  As the days continue to progress, more names will enter the transfer portal and we will likely have other targets to discuss so keep checking in as the offseason unfolds because we know that Beard is going to be active.

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