Wreck'Em Red
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Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders fall to KU in final minute

By Matthew Conner

Dec 17, 2020; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Kansas Jayhawks guard Ochai Agbaji (30) drives to the basket against Texas Tech Red Raiders guard Micah Peavy (5) and forward Tyreek Smith (10) in the second half at United Supermarkets Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 17, 2020; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Kansas Jayhawks guard Ochai Agbaji (30) drives to the basket against Texas Tech Red Raiders guard Micah Peavy (5) and forward Tyreek Smith (10) in the second half at United Supermarkets Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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Thursday in Lubbock, the Texas Tech basketball team fell to Kansas 58-57 in a game that was decided in the final minute.

All last season, the Texas Tech basketball team struggled to close out tight games in the closing minutes.  So this offseason, the team brought in Georgetown transfer Mac McClung to help remedy that problem as the 6-foot-2 guard is one of the game’s most dynamic dribble penetrators.

Thus, many Red Raider fans are now wondering why McClung didn’t touch the ball in the final minute of Thursday’s 58-57 loss to Kansas in Lubbock.  Most especially, fans will be asking why didn’t Tech scheme up a way to get their best player involved on the final possession when they needed a bucket to take the lead?

Instead, with 5.9 seconds remaining, Tech went to Terrence Shannon Jr., who tried to penetrate but was only able to get away a contested running jumper in the lane, a shot that came nowhere near going down.  The result was that Tech lost a shot at opening Big 12 play with a win over the no. 5 team in the nation.

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For what’s it’s worth, Shannon was fantastic on the night.  Hitting 4-7 shots from deep, he ended the game with 20 points and in the second half, he essentially carried the Red Raider offense as McClung tired.  In fact, it appeared as if his 3-pointer to put Tech ahead 57-56 with 29 seconds to play might be the game-winner.

But it wasn’t to be as Ochai Abaji would connect on a layup off of an out of bounds play to score the game-winning bucket with 13 seconds to play.  The junior would end the night with a game-high 23 points as one of only two Jayhawks in double-digits.

Of course, this game shouldn’t have ever come down to the final minute.  That’s because the Red Raiders were just 11-18 at the free-throw line.  And when you take away McClung’s 9-10 shooting at the stripe, the rest of the Red Raiders were just 2-8.

McClung was essentially Tech’s entire offense early in the contest as he had 13 of Tech’s 26 first-half points.  But as the game wore on, he started to lose his legs and that became evident as he went just 1-7 from the floor in the second half as he racked up 34 minutes of action, most of which were spent orchestrating the Tech offense.

But while McClung was his usual dynamic self, his backcourt mate was not at his best.  Junior guard Kyler Edwards, Tech’s most experienced Big 12 player, managed to score no points on nine shot attempts, five of which came from 3-point range.

Also being held without a point was forward Marcus Santos-Silva, Tech’s only senior.  Anytime you have two starters shutout, it’s going to be extremely difficult to take down a top-5 team and unfortunately, Tech couldn’t do that on Thursday night.

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