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Texas Tech basketball: Scouting Georgetown transfer Mac McClung

By Matthew Conner

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 21: Mac McClung #2 of the Georgetown Hoyas reacts after a three pointer during the first half of the game against the Texas Longhorns at Madison Square Garden on November 21, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 21: Mac McClung #2 of the Georgetown Hoyas reacts after a three pointer during the first half of the game against the Texas Longhorns at Madison Square Garden on November 21, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /
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Mac McClung #2 of Georgetown defends against Jamir Harris #4 of American  (Photo by Tony Quinn/ISI Photos/Getty Images).
Mac McClung #2 of Georgetown defends against Jamir Harris #4 of American  (Photo by Tony Quinn/ISI Photos/Getty Images). /

Can he defend?

Back in the 1970s, there was a popular TV show titled The Odd Couple about a pair of roommates who couldn’t be more opposite when it came to personalities.  We might get to see the basketball version of that show play out in Lubbock this year.

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That’s because Chris Beard loves defense and Mac McClung looks at it as if it is how you kill time until you get to take another shot.  How the two are able to come to an agreement is going to be fascinating.

My favorite way to look at how a player rates as an individual defender is his defensive rating, which is an estimate of how many points that defender would surrender over the course of 100 possessions.  Anything below 100 is considered acceptable.

The best Red Raider last year in that regard was Kevin McCullar at 89.7.  The worst was Moretti at 98.4.  McClung averaged 104.9.  Yikes.

But here is the good news.  There is simply no reason that I saw for McClung to be anything less than an average defender by Beard’s standards.  He’s not likely to ever be elite but he should not be a liability given his athletic ability.

When watching McClung play defense, the most notable issue was that he tends to watch the ball too often.  He did not maintain ball-you-man awareness which is imperative in Tech’s help-everything system.

But I think his defensive woes are more bad habits than incurable flaws.  When his man had the ball, McClung was an engaged defender who didn’t seem to get beaten off the dribble all that often (granted, he was not usually checking the opposition’s best dribble-penetrator).

Rather, it was when his man ran off of a few screens that he seemed to become lost in the wash.  That was because he was too focused on where the ball was and not where his man had gone.

Still, there is hope that McClung can become a defensive player that meets the standards of both Beard and his pseudo defensive coordinator Mark Adams.  After all, when Matt Mooney arrived as a transfer in 2018, he had a similar reputation as a defender and he ended that year with All-Big 12 Defensive Team recognition.

light. Related Story. Potential starting lineups without Moretti

Does Mac McClung love to play defense?  No.  Is he great when he tries?  Not by Texas Tech standards.  But can he become part of a championship-caliber defensive team?  Absolutely.  And whether or not he’s willing to put in the work on that end of the court is going to determine how his Red Raider career plays out.

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