Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders stumble on road once again

Saturday in Fort Worth, the crowd at TCU’s home arena was split almost 50/50 between Hormaned Frog fans and Red Raider fans making it feel like a neutral site game.  However, the Texas Tech basketball team played like it was a road game, which is bad news for Mark Adam’s team.

In Saturday’s 69-66 defeat, the Red Raiders once again played sloppy on offense and undisciplined on defense when playing outside of Lubbock just as they did in road losses at Oklahoma and Kansas State.  It’s become a disturbing pattern for a team that has now fallen to just 3-6 in true road games on the season.

Bryson Williams had 21 points on 8/9 shooting to lead the team in scoring but as the game got away from the Red Raiders down the stretch, he failed to score in the game’s final 2:39.  And unfortunately, his teammates could not take up the slack.

That included two key turnovers in the final minute that would ultimately sink the Red Raiders.  Those giveaways put a cap on a 20-turnover day for Tech which now sits in third place in the Big 12 standings a game behind Baylor which beat Kansas in Waco on Saturday night.

"“We had a lot of turnovers and breakdowns on the defensive end that we normally don’t have,” Texas Tech coach Mark Adams said. “That was disappointing. Give TCU a lot of credit. They are a tough team that played really hard. They got some momentum and confidence going and we couldn’t get it turned around there at the end.”"

For most of the game, the Red Raiders had control of the action even building up an 11-point lead at 46-35 early in the second half.  But TCU guard Mike Miles refused to let his team lose contact with the Red Raiders.

At times the only scoring option the Horned Frogs seemed to have, Miles repeatedly hit key shots to keep his team in the game.  He would finish with a game-high 26 points while also dishing out four assists and coming up with five steals.

In the final minutes, as Miles made play after play for his team, whether that was scoring or whether it was creating for others, Tech could not find their own hero to step up.  Rather, the normally poised Red Raiders seemed to fold under the pressure.

It was an example of how one of Tech’s greatest flaws, the lack of a true point guard, can be exploited.  With Kevin McCullar still noticeably hobbled as he works his way back from a high ankle sprain suffered two weeks ago when TCU played in Lubbock, Tech seemed directionless and flustered on offense in the game’s closing minutes.

Then, with Tech needing a three-pointer to tie the game in the final ten seconds, T.J. Shannon hoisted up an ill-advised shot that had no prayer of connecting.  It was just the latest moment this season in which the Red Raider junior has taken a forced shot in the final seconds of a game only to come up empty with other such instances coming at DePaul in December and at at the end of the first OT in Tech’s loss at Kansas in late January.

But Shannon should not be the only scapegoat for Saturday’s meltdown that saw Tech blow an eight-point halftime lead.  Kevin Obanor struggled with just four points and only two rebounds on the afternoon.  He was 1-5 from 3-point range.

Meanwhile, Davion Warren was a trainwreck with the basketball at times.  He was charged with four turnovers on the day, many of which came in crucial moments.

It was an all-around letdown for a team that entered the day with aspirations of earning a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.  Now, that dream has taken a serious hit and it appears that Tech will need to win its final two regular-season games (home vs. Kansas State and at Oklahoma State) as well as win a couple of wins in the Big 12 Tournament in order to make that dream a reality.

But whatever seed the Red Raiders earn in next month’s Big Dance, there is one bit of good news for Tech – there are no road games in the postseason.