Texas Tech basketball: Andrei Savrasov follows Brian Burg to Georgia Southern

As many predicted, former Texas Tech basketball forward Andrei Savrasov has followed Brian Burg to Georiga Southern.

One of the causalities of the yearly Texas Tech basketball roster reshuffling, Andrei Savrasov has found a new home. And a familiar face will be there to guide him.

As many expected, the sophomore forward is headed to Georgia Southern where former Red Raider assistant Brian Burg is now the head coach. The official signing was confirmed by the Savannah Morning News on Wednesday.

Perhaps the step down to the low-major level will help Savrasov. After all, he looked absolutely overwhelmed when trying to compete in the Big 12 as a true freshman.

Appearing in 21 of 31 games, he averaged a mere 1.1 points and 1.0 rebounds in 4.7 minutes of action. Thus, it took no one by surprise when he and Texas Tech decided to amicably part ways.

The native of Russia does have some skills that will be valuable to his new program. The main one is that he is more than capable of hitting from outside.

In his lone season at Tech, he shot 33.3% from 3-point range but his textbook shooting stroke suggests he’s capable of much better. Once the game slows down and Savrasov starts to feel comfortable on the court, he will likely be a nice spot-up shooting weapon.

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But Texas Tech didn’t have time to wait for him to evolve into that. Gone are the days when the program is willing to wait for projects to come to fruition as every roster spot needs to go to someone capable of being a contributor being as the Red Raiders now have National Title aspirations.

Thus, Georiga Southern seemed like the most logical of landing spots. Burg took over the Eagles in late March after being part of all four of Chris Beard’s staffs in Lubbock.

"“Andrei is a very skilled basketball player, ” Burg said in a press release. “He approaches every day as a professional and has an extremely high ceiling. Also, he has competed at a very high level and knows what winning is all about.”"

Savrasov actually spent a year and a half in Lubbock. He was a surprise enrollee in the Texas Tech basketball program in January of 2019 but he did not play that season as he decided to redshirt.

There were some rumors during that time that Savrasov was performing well in intra-squad workouts and scrimmages but that didn’t translate to actual games. It often seemed like he was overthinking the game and that caused him to be timid and somewhat passive with the ball.

In only three games this year did the 6-foot-7 forward make more than one basket and never did he make more than two in any contest. His Red Raider high for points came against both Creighton and TCU when he had six points. Hopefully, a step down in competition and the continuity that will come from playing for Burg will help him realize his untapped potential.