Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders make easy work of Troy

Friday night in Lubbock, the Texas Tech basketball team got back on the winning track with an easy 80-46 victory over the Troy Trojans.

In what is sure to be an unpredictable 2020-21 season because of COVID-19, it was certainly great to see how the Texas Tech basketball team handled the season’s first unexpected turn on Friday night.  Facing Troy on short notice after St. John’s canceled what was supposed to be a Thursday night game in Lubbock, Chris Beard saw his team take care of business in an 80-46 victory.

Once again, Mac McClung led the team in scoring with 20 points.  The junior transfer from Georgetown has led the Red Raiders in scoring in all four games of this season and he was once again on fire in the first half against Troy.  The dynamic 6-foot-2 guard put up 17 points in the first 20 minutes of play on 7-10 shooting from the floor.

Meanwhile, Kyler Edwards had a nice showing with 14 points.  Shooting 4-5 from 3-point range, he rebounded from a disappointing 1-5 shooting effort in Tech’s last game to be his team’s second-leading scorer on the night.

As a team, the Red Raiders were 11-19 (57.9%) from 3-point range with Edwards and McClung combining to hit 8 of 13 shots from behind the arc.  That’s important as those two guards figure to be this team’s primary outside threats this year.

But perhaps the most exciting development for Red Raider fans was the debut of 7-foot-1 center Vlad Goldin.  Playing 6 minutes, the true freshman scored 4 points and grabbed 3 rebounds.

It was his first action of the year after a left wrist injury prevented him from seeing the floor in the first three games.  Now that he’s back in the fray, we will watch his development to see if he is able to provide this team with some size in a meaningful way as that’s something that Beard will need now that forward Joel Ntambwe has entered the transfer portal.

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As per usual when playing an overmatched opponent, the Red Raider defense was dominant.  In all, the Trojans shot just 34% from the floor.  What’s more, they were just 2-20 from 3-point range.

Beard will also like the fact that Tech forced 22 turnovers on the night.   Included in that number were eight steals, three of which came from reserve guard Jamarius Burton.

Ultimately, it would have been better for the Red Raiders to have played St. John’s on Thursday night as scheduled.  At 3-1 on the year, the Big East team would have been a better test for a Tech squad still needing to find its identity and learn how the individual parts on the roster are going to mesh.

But at least the Red Raiders came out and took care of business against an opponent that they had no idea they were going to play when the week began.  Now, Tech has a quick turnaround as Grambling is up next on the schedule Sunday at 1 pm in Lubbock.

Hopefully, the type of effort we saw from the Red Raiders on Friday night is what we see again on Sunday.  That’s because, despite the fact that there are no more Power 5 opponents on the schedule prior to the start of Big 12 play against Kansas on December 17, every time the Red Raiders take the floor, they have plenty to work on.