Texas Tech basketball: Three players that Red Raiders need more from

If the Texas Tech basketball team is going to be a serious Big 12 contender this season, these three Red Raiders need to give their team more than they did against Kansas.

The Big 12 is going to be a true slugfest this year and the Texas Tech basketball team learned that first hand on Thursday night in a one-point loss to Kansas in Lubbock.  But there are still 17 rounds to go in that fight and that’s plenty of time for Tech to make noise.

However, to be a Big 12 title contender, the Red Raiders have to make certain that they don’t take too long to gel.  In fact, they had best get their act together in a hurry as Tuesday brings a tough test on the road against a veteran Oklahoma team.

But we also have to allow this team time to figure itself out.  After all, that’s exactly what the 2018-19 team had to do on its way to the National Championship Game.

Don’t forget that the Red Raiders started Big 12 play 4-3 and looked disjointed on the offensive end up until late-January.  In fact, over the course of a three-game losing streak, Tech failed to score over 64 points in any game.

That year, we were all asking if anyone on the team was capable of helping Jarrett Culver shoulder the offensive load.  And we were wondering if newcomers like Matt Mooney and Tariq Owens were going to be able to make the type of difference they were expected to make.  Sound familiar?

That year’s team had to work several newcomers into the mix and it took almost half of the regular season before things really started to click for Chris Beard’s team.  So we have to allow for this year’s team, which is in a similar situation, the same latitude.

Still, there are Red Raiders that need to start to pick things up in short order because this abbreviated season won’t afford the Red Raiders as much time to hit their stride ad a normal season would.  So let’s take a look at three players who need to give Tech more than they did against Kansas.