Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders open season with easy victory

Texas Tech had way too many turnovers

In any sport in which the statistic is kept, turnovers are often the key category to monitor.  That’s especially true in basketball.

Last night, Tech was poor in that regard with 18 giveaways, nine in each half.  What was most troubling is that players who struggled in that area a year ago struggled again on Wednesday night.

Pop Isaacs led the team with five turnovers.  Last season, he and Fardaws Aimaq were tops on the team with 2.3 per game.

Meanwhile, Lamar Washington gave the ball away twice in 21:46 of action.  That’s about on pace with the 3.7 turnovers he averaged per 40 minutes played last year, the worst on the team.

Darrion Williams also needs to take better care of the ball after giving it away three times.  Last season, he averaged fewer than one turnover per game despite playing over 30 minutes per contest so there is reason to think that he will be better.

Many of Tech’s turnovers from this game are of the variety that could be easily prevented.  Sure, there were some instances in which a Red Raider got his pocket picked but for the most part, the giveaways were a result of poor decisions, from trying to do too much instead of making the simple play.

That’s not uncommon in a season opener when the emotions and adrenaline run higher than they have in months.  For instance, in last season’s first game, Tech committed 20 turnovers.

Still, this is an area to monitor given how some of the key players on the team, players who will have the ball in their hands quite a bit this year, contributed to the problem.  It’s certainly a place where we will want to see improvement in game No. 2.