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Texas Tech basketball: Why the Red Raiders were able to beat OU

By Matthew Conner

Feb 4, 2019; Lubbock, TX, USA; The Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot and the masked rider celebrate the Red Raiders win over the West Virginia Mountaineers at United Supermarkets Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 4, 2019; Lubbock, TX, USA; The Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot and the masked rider celebrate the Red Raiders win over the West Virginia Mountaineers at United Supermarkets Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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CINCINNATI, OH – DECEMBER 09: Brady Manek #35 of the Oklahoma Sooners celebrates a shot during a college basketball game against the Xavier Musketeers on December 9, 2020 at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OH – DECEMBER 09: Brady Manek #35 of the Oklahoma Sooners celebrates a shot during a college basketball game against the Xavier Musketeers on December 9, 2020 at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

Tech played great defense on Manek

I’ve done searches on Google and Twitter to try to find out if OU’s leading scorer, Brady Manek, was playing at less than 100% on Tuesday.  After all, his body language on the bench looked like a guy who was playing through an illness and in key stretches of this game, head coach Lon Kruger simply kept his star sidelined.  But I found nothing to indicate that the 6-foot-9 Larry Bird doppelganger was limited in any capacity.

So then we must give Texas Tech tremendous credit for the fact that a guy who entered the game averaging 16.6 points per game managed to put only two points on the scoreboard on Tuesday night.

It’s easy to know what Manek is going to do when he gets the ball.  He’s going to shoot it.  He’s not going to pass it as he has only two assists on the season.  He’s not going to dribble it much, at least not enough to get to the rim.  He’s going to either shoot a 3-pointer, a pull-up jumper, or a turnaround jumper.

So with that knowledge in their scouting report, Tech sold out to try to limit his touches and when he did get the ball, a double-team was quick to follow.  The result was that the senior, who it feels like has been playing college basketball since the George W. Bush administration, grew visibly frustrated as the night wore on.

He even earned a flagrant foul for elbowing Shannon in the face.  Though the play was not malicious in any way as he looked to be trying to get post position, that moment was likely a result of Tech’s harassment of him as when players grow frustrated, they press even harder to make something happen and at times a stray elbow will find the kisser of an opponent.

Credit here goes to Micah Peavy and Shannon as they were the primary defenders on Manek and they were able to keep him from ever feeling comfortable.  For the game, he was just 1-7 from the field making this the first time all year that he’s failed to score at least 13 points.

In his last three games against Tech, Manek had averaged 15 points per game.  But on this night, he was a non-factor and that was a huge reason Tech was able to survive in Norman.

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