Texas Tech basketball: 3 reasons Red Raiders were able to take down Texas

Clarence Nadolny picks up the slack

Playing without starting point guard Kevin McCullar Jr. for the second-straight game, Texas Tech needed someone to step up again at the guard position.  But few people would have guessed prior to this game that it would be Clarence Nadolny who would play the role of hero against the Longhorns.

The junior had his second-best game of the season by scoring 14 points off the bench to go along with three rebounds and a pair of steals in 20 minutes of action.  It was only the third career double-digit scoring game of his career and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

"“With all the respect I got for them, that was personal,”  Nadolny said after the win. “You don’t want to lose to the guy that left you.”"

Shooting 4-9 from the field overall, Nadolny attempted the second-most shots he’s ever attempted in a collegiate contest.  He was also 5-6 from the free-throw line, marking a new career-high in free-throw attempts and equaling his career mark for free-throw makes.

Without question, his biggest shot came at the 6:27 mark of the second half.  With Texas trailing just 47-44, Nadolny confidently stepped into a 3-pointer from the wing that he buried.  It was just the third shot he’s hit from beyond the arc this season.

While Tech was led in scoring by Bryson Williams’ 17 points, Nadolny was the unquestioned hero of this game for Tech.  He led the team in +/- with a +15 and he helped pick up the backcourt slack on a day when Terrence Shannon Jr. would score a mere six points and Davion Warren would contribute just two.

It was reminiscent of Nadolny’s 17-point game earlier this year in a win over Kansas in Lubbock, a game that also saw McCullar unable to play with an ankle sprain.  Thankfully, when McCullar has been down, someone has almost always picked up the slack in his place, and now, in two of the season’s biggest wins, that person has been Clarence Nadolny.