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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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LUBBOCK, TEXAS – NOVEMBER 25: Forward Marcus Santos-Silva #14 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shoots a free throw during the first half of the college basketball game against the Northwestern State Demons at United Supermarkets Arena on November 25, 2020 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS – NOVEMBER 25: Forward Marcus Santos-Silva #14 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shoots a free throw during the first half of the college basketball game against the Northwestern State Demons at United Supermarkets Arena on November 25, 2020 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

The Ugly: Free throws

It should be the easiest accomplishment in the game.  Stand 15 feet from the basket and make a shot when no one is allowed to hinder you.  Yet for some reason, making free throws continue to befuddle an untold number of players at the highest levels of the game.

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That was certainly the case for the Red Raiders on Sunday.  Overall, Tech was just 13-24 (54.2%) as a team.  Those 11 missed points were equal to the final margin of victory in the game for Houston.

What’s even worse is that all but three of Tech’s free-throw makes came from one player, McClung.  Constantly attacking the basket in the second half, the guard was 10-14 at the line on the day.  The rest of his team was just 3-10.   Meanwhile, Houston was 16-21 (76.2%) as a team.

So far, Tech is not shooting as well from the line on the season as we would like to see.  They are at just 66.7% as a team.  That’s got to improve.

For reference, Tech shot worse than 54.2% just twice in 2019-20.  What’s more, they lost three of the four games in which they shot below 61.5% as a team from the line.

Sunday, as the offense struggled, the foul line could have been a savior but Tech was ice cold.  We’ve already discussed Peavy’s struggles on the year.  But Kyler Edwards was also 0-3 at the line as well Sunday, which is unacceptable from a career 73.5% foul shooter.

You can bet that Tech will have plenty of opportunities to work on their free throws this week in practice and that Beard will find some creative ways to amp up the intensity when driving home his message that another showing like we saw on Sunday will not be tolerated.  In fact, what the players are in for when it comes to helping them improve in that regard might be even uglier than what we saw from them at the line on Sunday.

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