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Texas Tech basketball: The good, bad, and ugly from loss to Houston

By Matthew Conner

DALLAS, TX - MARCH 17: The Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot performs during the game against the Florida Gators during the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at the American Airlines Center on March 17, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - MARCH 17: The Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot performs during the game against the Florida Gators during the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at the American Airlines Center on March 17, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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Nov 25, 2020; Lubbock, Texas, USA; A general overview of the United Supermarkets Arena during a game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Northwestern State Demons. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 25, 2020; Lubbock, Texas, USA; A general overview of the United Supermarkets Arena during a game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Northwestern State Demons. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

The Texas Tech basketball team dropped its first game of the season on Sunday so let’s take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly from the loss to Houston.

So much for the dream of going undefeated for the Texas Tech basketball team.  Sunday in Fort Worth, Chris Beard’s team took a few lumps from the no. 17 Houston Cougars in a 64-53 defeat to fall to 2-1 on the young season.

It was certainly the season’s first true test and the Red Raiders learned that they have plenty of work left to do on their way to becoming a serious championship contender.

"“Whenever you get punched in the mouth, you can sit around and make excuses, or you can feel sorry for yourself, or you can get up and go back to work,” Beard said after the game when asked what he told his team at halftime after a dreadful first 20 minutes."

After what transpired in this game, Tech will have plenty to work on before St. John’s comes to Lubbock on Thursday as part of the Big 12/Big East Challenge.  But that’s the reason you test yourself early.

This is the second-straight year that Tech stumbled in the season’s first true test.  Remember that last year, the Red Raiders lost their first three games against major conference teams (Iowa, Creighton, and De Paul).  Though Houston isn’t technically from a high-major conference, they are as good as most teams from the six major conferences (the Big 12, Big East, PAC 12, SEC, ACC, and Big 10) and they took it to the Red Raiders.

What’s interesting is that there are some similarities between what we saw Sunday and last year’s early-season losses.  First of all, in both instances, Tech was without a starting guard who could have made a difference.

Remember that when Tech lost its first three games of 2019-20, leading scorer Jahmi’us Ramsey was out of the lineup with a minor hamstring issue that would cause him to miss five games.  This year, sophomore guard Kevin McCullar Jr. has yet to play thanks to a sprained ankle and his defensive presence and energy would have been a huge boost against a perimeter-oriented Houston squad.

Also, both in last year’s first two losses and Sunday’s defeat to Houston, the Red Raiders fell into huge early holes.  Against Houston, the Red Raiders were down by 17 points at halftime before eventually cutting the deficit to eight points.  Last year, Tech trailed Iowa by 10 points at the break and trailed Creighton by 14 at the intermission as was unable to climb out of those holes as well.

Just like the loss to Houston, Tech’s three early-season losses last year revealed areas for needed improvement.  And that’s what Sunday was all about, though we would have rather learned those lessons in a victory.

Keep in mind though, that there is less time this year for improvements to be made.  That’s because there are only four games remaining until Tech opens Big 12 play against Kansas in Lubbock on December 17.

So we can be sure that the intensity in practice over the next few days will be at an all-time high after the way the Red Raiders played on Sunday.  And to get an idea of where we hope to see some improvement from the Red Raiders, let’s take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly from the loss to the Cougars.

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