Texas Tech basketball: 3 reasons the Red Raiders beat Texas

Tech won the free-throw shooting game

Texas Tech basketball fans across Raiderland had to be rejoicing on Saturday to finally see an evenly-officiated game.  That hasn’t been the case in the Red Raiders’ last three contests.

Texas still held the edge in free-throw attempts by being awarded 27, one more than Tech was awarded.  But on the other hand, Tech made 20 of its 26 attempts while Texas made only 18 of its.

While the two-point edge at the line was far from what tipped the game, it was just refreshing to see Tech not have to try to overcome a massive deficit in that aspect of the game.

Remember that on Monday, Oklahoma State had a 32-12 edge in attempts in their win over Tech.  And of course, two games prior to that, Tech shot only 20 free throws on its home court while seeing West Virginia hoist 39.

This year, making free throws is a massive component of the Red Raiders’ offensive attack.  Making 15.5 per game, Tech is No. 2 in the nation in that stat.

But it was a concern that Texas might have an edge at the line given how much of a size edge that the Longhorns have in the post.  Fortunately, Texas’ two primary big men, Kai Jones and Jericho Sims, earned only nine attempts between them, each making three.

Thus, Tech and UT were both evenly distributed opportunities at the line and the home team made the most of it.  That helped keep this game from getting away from Tech the way others have this month.