Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders still need to find a point guard

At first glance, the Texas Tech basketball program appears to be rather well-stocked at the guard position. After all, the team has added five players this offseason that could be considered solutions for the backcourt.

But despite the influx of talent, Mark Adams and his staff need to add more help, specifically at the point guard position.

It will be interesting to see if the Red Raiders prioritize that spot as they continue to build their roster for the 2021-22 season. And given the departure of Mac McClung, there’s every reason to believe they will.

Last season, McClung was Tech’s only guard who could create offense off the bounce. What’s more, in addition to leading the team in scoring at 15.5 points per game, he was the team’s most-used player.

Usage rate is a stat that measures what percentage of the offense runs through an individual player when that player is on the court. It is a measure of how often a player shoots the ball, assists on a bucket, or turns it over and it provides a great picture of what a team asks from an individual player.

In 2020-21, McClung had the highest usage rate on the Texas Tech basketball roster at 27.5%. Second on the team was Terrence Shannon Jr. (who is also likely to leave the program and remain in the NBA Draft) at 24.8%. Thus, the Red Raiders are facing the possibility of having to replace their two leading creators from last season.

The good news is that the bevy of wing players that the program has added this offseason should help offset Shannon’s likely departure. But the Red Raiders have yet to add a ball-dominant guard to take McClung’s place.

Right now, the only pure guards that Tech has brought into the fold are Dallas Baptist transfer Chandler Jacobs and high school signee Ethan Duncan from Lubbock. Both of those players have the same reputation and it isn’t for getting offense off the dribble. Rather, they are considered knockdown outside shooters, a skill that Texas Tech also needed to add this offseason. The same could be said for Florida State transfer Sardaar Calhoun, a 6-foot-6 guard/wing who shot 39% from deep last season.

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But when the game is on the line and Tech needs a player to break down the defense and create something off the dribble, who will Mark Adams turn to? Who will play the role that McClung played a season ago?

Right now, it doesn’t appear that player is on the roster. Kevin McCullar Jr. is Tech’s best and most experienced returnee but he’s never been thought of as a player who can break down defenses with dribble penetration despite the fact that he was a point guard in high school. Meanwhile, no one can believe that returning guard Clarence Nadolny is the answer given that he has been just a limited role player during his two years on campus.

Thus, the Red Raiders would be wise to add a ball-dominant guard, one who can facilitate the offense and who can make something happen all on his own. But the question is whether that type of player is still available in the transfer portal after Tech has missed on a number of point guard targets in the past two months.

For instance, the Red Raiders were heavily interested in OU transfer De’Vion Harmon, the Sooners’ second-leading scorer this past season, but he wound up heading to Oregon. Tech also had interest in Duke transfer point guard Jordan Goldwire, a pass-first guard, but he has signed with Oklahoma.

So while the focus of the fan base has been on whether or not Adams can add more size to the mix, don’t overlook the point guard position. After all, that’s a spot that Tech has to address if it wants to start to have more success in close games than it has in the past two seasons.

Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the Red Raiders have lost six games by three points or less and have lost six more games in overtime. In each of those contests, there were moments when Tech had opportunities to win the game but the offense faltered in the clutch thanks in large part to the program’s inability to find a player who can take over when games were on the line.

Therefore, don’t be surprised to see Tech add another guard to the roster before next season starts. The point guard spot is a bit of a hole in the current lineup and it’s a spot of critical importance that Adams must address.

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