Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders struggle but still down San Jose St.
![Texas Tech's forward Devan Cambridge (35) dribbles the ball while San Jose State's Trey Anderson guards during the non conference basketball game, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023, at United Supermarkets Arena. Texas Tech's forward Devan Cambridge (35) dribbles the ball while San Jose State's Trey Anderson guards during the non conference basketball game, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023, at United Supermarkets Arena.](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/b89a677648ef290b839f7c8891d4b9efe5021a4af5539a9dac2f1de13ffb88ea.jpg)
In the second game of the season, the Texas Tech basketball team played a rare Sunday afternoon matinee against San Jose State. Given the way the Red Raiders performed for the first 35 minutes of that game, here’s betting that won’t become a regular occurrence.
Though they would prevail 56-42 to move to 2-0 on the season, the Red Raiders were sluggish, sloppy, and out of sorts for most of the afternoon. Fortunately, they were able to dodge a bullet from the team picked to finish only 7th in the Mountain West Conference this season.
Trailing by a score for much of the second half, it was a late 18-2 run in the final seven minutes that propelled Tech to the win. Prior to that, the home team was down 40-38 but thankfully, Grant McCasland’s squad would wake up in time to put the Spartans away for good.
Here are some quick thoughts on what was a less-than-inspiring performance.
Texas Tech continues to struggle from 3-point range
Any time a team doesn’t make its first 3-pointer of the game until there is 7:33 left to play, that’s a concern. That was the case for the Red Raiders on Sunday as they went the first 32:27 of the game without hitting a shot from beyond the arc.
It was a truly dreadful day from deep for Tech. That’s the second time in as many regular-season games that outside shooting has been a problem.
Overall, McCasland saw his team make just 3 of 16 shots from beyond the arc. That came one game after Tech opened the season by making just 5-23 of its 3-point attempts against Texas A&M-Commerce on Wednesday night.
https://twitter.com/TexasTechMBB/status/1723819136768237923?s=20
Most puzzling so far has been the struggles of Pop Isaacs. A 37.8% shooter from downtown last year, he’s now only 3-11 (27.2%) early this season.
Only 1-4 from deep on Sunday, Isaacs was kept under wraps for most of the afternoon. He did heat up late thanks to some free throws but he finished with only 8 points on 1-7 shooting.
It was a 3-pointer from West Virginia transfer Joe Toussaint that finally broke the seal for Tech. Only a 29.9% shooter from beyond the arc in his career, the senior confidently stepped into an open look from deep and drilled it to give Tech a 38-37 lead.
Where has the team that made 14 shots from long distance against the Texas A&M Aggies in an exhibition game gone? Perhaps this is just a two-game blip on the radar and the Red Raiders will find their stride from outside as they settle into the season.
However, thus far in 2023-24, that’s been an area of struggle, which is surprising given how well Tech shot against the Aggies. Hopefully, McCasland and his coaching staff find a way to get this team back in rhythm in this critical aspect of the game because Tech won’t win many games shooting the way it has from outside thus far.