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Texas Tech basketball classics: Unranked Red Raiders topple No. 3 OU in 2016

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - FEBRUARY 17: Toddrick Gotcher #20 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts after the game against the Oklahoma Sooners on February 17, 2016 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech defeated Oklahoma 65-63. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - FEBRUARY 17: Toddrick Gotcher #20 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts after the game against the Oklahoma Sooners on February 17, 2016 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech defeated Oklahoma 65-63. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
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Zach Smith #11 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders dives for a loose ball (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
Zach Smith #11 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders dives for a loose ball (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

Putting bigger defenders on Hield turned the game

When the game opened, it looked like Tech would have no answer for Hield.  The future lottery pick came out of the gates hot with 10 points in the first five minutes.  He would finish with only 16.

The change was the Tech stopped asking Gotecher and Williams to be his primary defender and put larger defenders Zach Smith and Justin Gray on him.  The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Hield couldn’t outmuscle Gray and he had a tough time dealing with the length of the 6-foot-7 Smith, one of the most athletic players in Tech history.

There was a moment when it was obvious that Hield was starting to grow frustrated.  Midway through the first half, he was assessed a flagrant foul for elbowing Gray in the jaw.  With Gray in a defensive stance right in Hield’s face, the Sooner’s leader swung his elbow from right to left and it caught Gray flush.

Hield was visibly frustrated when the flagrant was tacked onto his ledger and after that point, he simply was not the same player.  One has to wonder if that’s why he wasn’t the man his head coach went to on the last possession when OU desperately needed a bucket.

A month earlier, Hield had dropped 30 points on Tech in Norman as OU beat the Red Raiders by 25 points.  But in this game, he was just 6-16 from the floor and 3-10 from deep as Smith’s defensive changes proved to be the right move.

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