Wreck'Em Red
Fansided

Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders face new challenge in upcoming games

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 01: Guard Adonis Arms #25 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders gestures before the college basketball game against the Texas Longhorns at United Supermarkets Arena on February 01, 2022 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 01: Guard Adonis Arms #25 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders gestures before the college basketball game against the Texas Longhorns at United Supermarkets Arena on February 01, 2022 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

You’ve likely heard it said a million times that life in the Big 12 is brutal when it comes to basketball.  After all, this conference is the deepest of any of the six major leagues as all ten teams are in the top 75 of the NCAA NET rankings.  What’s more, it is the only major conference that features a true round-robin schedule where each team plays every other conference opponent at home and away.  And that unique schedule is about to present a new challenge to the Texas Tech basketball team….being the hunted.

Since the start of Big 12 play early last month, Texas Tech has faced a gauntlet.  In fact, six of the nine games Tech has played in league play have come against ranked opponents with Tech being the lower ranked team in five of those contests.

But now, the schedule brings a stretch where the Red Raiders will be the big dog that the opponent is trying to score a win over.  That’s because the next three games the Red Raiders will play will be against West Virginia, Oklahoma, and TCU (with the first two of those games being on the road) all teams that are in the lower tier of the conference.

However, just because those teams are not ranked and are not league title contenders, it doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous.  In fact, each has scored impressive wins this season.

In non-conference play, the Mountaineers picked up wins over Clemson and then-No. 15 UCONN.  Meanwhile, Oklahoma has taken down then-No. 14 Florida, then-No. 12 Arkansas, and then-No. 11 Iowa State.  As for TCU, they just scored a win over then-No. 19 LSU in the Big 12/SEC Challenge and they have defeated Oklahoma, Iowa State, and Utah among others this season.

The point is that there is no relief for Texas Tech over the next week-and-a-half as each of the next three opponents is dangerous, despite what their conference standing might suggest.

What’s more, the Red Raiders are going to have to find some new motivation in these three games.  These opponents are not trophies that you hang on the wall the way earlier wins over Kansas and Baylor were.  Likewise, there is no animosity towards these opponents as there was towards Texas on Tuesday night.  Instead, the motivation to beat these teams must come from within for Mark Adams’ team.

While these games are not going to be seismic tilts when it comes to the landscape of college hoops, the fact is that they will factor into Tech’s hopes of winning the Big 12 regular-season crown.  What’s more, they will all be important in Tech’s pursuit of a high seeding in the NCAA Tournament, a seeding that could ideally put the Red Raiders in Fort Worth for the opening two rounds of the Big Dance and San Antonio for the Sweet 16 and Elite 8.

But for Tech to see such a dream scenario play out, the Red Raiders are going to have to take care of business against teams that will be looking at Tech as a resume-boosting opportunity.  While West Virginia will need an improbable run in February and early March to reach the tournament, both OU and TCU are squarely on the bubble as the last full month of the regular season begins.  Thus, they will be looking at games against Tech as tremendous opportunities.

Therefore, Tech will have to match the intensity of their underdog opponents.  Fortunately, this is an older and more mature team meaning that it seems likely that the Red Raiders will treat the games against unranked and unhated foes with the same professionalism that they treated games against Texas, Kansas, Baylor, and Iowa State with.

Interestingly, Tech has only two more ranked teams on the schedule in the regular season, Baylor and Texas (though Texas likely won’t be ranked when Tech visits Austin on February 19 given how brutal their upcoming schedule is).  Thus, the Red Raiders’ Big 12 and NCAA Tournament future is likely going to be decided by how well this team handles the subservient class of the Big 12.

That begins with a tricky trip to West Virginia on Saturday, a place where Tech has won only once all-time.  But if Tech can come out of Appalachia with a win and then do the same against OU and TCU, it will set this team up for an interesting close to the regular season, one that could result in another Big 12 title and, more importantly, a trip to Forth Worth in mid-March.

Home/Texas Tech Basketball