Texas Tech basketball: What Nimari Burnett’s departure means for remainder of season

Tech will now have one fewer quality free-throw shooter

The best skill Nimari Burnett brought to the Red Raiders in his brief stint in Lubbock was his free-throw shooting.  Despite having an unorthodox shooting form, he shot 88.9% at the line this year, which was best among the 8-man rotation and behind only Vlad Goldin, who has shot just seven free-throws on the year.

Burnett can’t shoot, but he can draw fouls.  That’s actually not a knock on him but rather an admission that he did bring one element to the offense.  After all, basketball wisdom tells a player that if your shot isn’t falling, try to get to the line.

With 36 attempts on the year, he was 5th on the team.  That was despite the fact that he was seventh in minutes played.

Missing such a good free-throw shooter could be the greatest fallout from Burnett’s departure.  That’s because Tech simply has not shot well this year.

The Red Raiders are just 7th in the Big 12 in free-throw percentage at 69.9%.  And that’s after hitting 31 of 36 against Kansas State on Tuesday night.

The good news is that Tech still has four players (Mac McClung, Kyler Edwards, Kevin McCullar, and Terrence Shannon) shooting at least 78% from the line.  But losing another good free-throw shooter is less than ideal for a team that isn’t very good in that aspect of the game.