Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders miss out on grad transfer Matt Haarms

Thursday, Purdue grad transfer center Matt Haarms committed to BYU leaving the Texas Tech basketball program still searching for help in the post.

The help wanted sign is still hanging in the window of the Texas Tech basketball facility. That’s because the Red Raiders have missed out on 7-foot-3 Purdue center Matt Haarms, a graduate transfer who committed to BYU over Tech and Kentucky on Thursday.

Many people considered Haarms the top uncommitted grad transfer in the portal and the competition for his services was fierce with over 25 teams expressing interest. Now, he’s off the board, and Tech has to continue looking for an upgrade in the post.

"“I just felt an absolutely awesome connection with [BYU],” Haarms told ESPN. “I came down to those three schools, and at that point I was just looking at everything. I could weigh the pros and cons for hours on end, but I needed to make a decision on where I felt I could be the most successful and where I could be 100 percent mentally committed and where I truly trusted them.”"

Haarms averaged 8.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks this past season, after amassing 9.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks as a sophomore the year prior. His size would have been a perfect addition to the Red Raider roster, especially when in regard to protecting the rim.

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Now, Chris Beard must figure out where to turn to in order to fortify his program’s greatest weakness from 2019-20. After seeing both Norense Odiase and Tariq Owens graduate following the 2019 run to the National Title Game, Tech played this past season with 6-foot-9 T.J. Holyfield as the tallest member of Beard’s regular rotation.

The Red Raiders did occasionally bring 7-foot freshman Russel Tchewa off the bench but he saw only 5.1 minutes per game in his 23 appearances. In fact, only Andrei Savrasov saw action in fewer games for the Red Raiders this season.

With such a small lineup, Tech ranked just 6th in the Big 12 in rebound margin this year. Amazingly, Beard’s team grabbed the exact same number of boards at its opponents over the course of 31 games, 1,037.

That’s not good enough to be a championship team though. What’s more, the Red Raiders were led in rebounding by grad transfers Holyfield and Chris Clarke, who between them accounted for approximately 11 rebounds per game. With both of them now gone, Beard will have to find a way to replace that productivity in an area of the game where his team was often dominated by bigger teams.

When it came to blocked shots, Tech was just seventh in the conference and that’s another area where Beard will likely want to improve. That was such a huge part of what made the 2018-19 team arguably the best defensive team in the modern era of the game but unfortunately, players like Tariq Owens are rare.

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Tomorrow, we will take a look at what options are still available in the transfer portal as well as through other avenues. But with Haarms now off the board, the pickings are starting to grow rather thin for Beard and the Red Raiders.

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