Texas Tech basketball: Why the Red Raiders beat LSU

Tech dominated the glass

LSU is a long and athletic team.  That should make them a good rebounding squad.  And for the most part this season, they have been far better than average in that regard.  But on Saturday, it was the Red Raiders who dominated the rebounding battle.

Chris Beard saw his team pull down 41 boards, 12 more than the Tigers managed to grab.  That proved to be important.

As a result, Tech trailed in the second-chance points department just 13-12 for the game.  The fact that LSU was not able to have a huge advantage in that aspect of the game, which they likely thought they could control, was significant.

This year, the Tigers rank 71st in the nation in total rebounds per game at 37.8.  They are also 50th nationally by averaging 10.3 offensive boards per game.  Meanwhile, Tech is No. 117 in the country at 36.5 rebounds per contest and 26th in offensive boards at 11.1.

On the offensive glass, Tech stormed the glass to the tune of 16 rebounds.  Though that didn’t yield a ton of second-chance points, it was a key part of helping Tech keep the high-scoring Tigers from having as many possessions as they would have liked.

LSU is not a good defensive team and they don’t like to defend for long stretches but that’s what they had to do on Saturday thanks to Tech’s work on the glass.  That was also likely a reason why the home team was whistled for seven more fouls than the Red Raiders.