The No. 16 Texas Tech Red Raiders didn’t seem to do so well in Dallas as they faced off against the No. 17 Arkansas Razorbacks. Well, I say that, the first half was fine! Texas Tech found itself with a 49-43 halftime lead, which is good!
Then, in the second half, things fell apart entirely. The Red Raiders were outscored 50-37 and just clearly couldn’t keep up with the Razorbacks in this matchup, which is all sorts of frustrating when considering how the first half went.
But a loss is a loss and here’s a few stats that I found worrying from Texas Tech’s 7-point loss to the No. 17 team in the country.
No. 1: Arkansas had no issue with fast break points while Texas Tech truly struggled
Folks, it’s not a good thing that Arkansas had 14 more points off of fast breaks than what the Red Raiders were capable of accomplishing against the Razorbacks. It’s truly alarming that Arkansas had no problem getting up and down the court and scoring quickly.
Arkansas had no issue scoring in transition as the Razorbacks racked up 18 fast break points. Meanwhile, Texas Tech had a very meager four points. If you couldn’t tell by the overall final score, it’s clear that neither defense did well in this game, but I, for one, am worried about Texas Tech’s ability to get back on defense.
No. 2: There was a massive difference in production from the benches in this game
Arkansas was actually able to get some points produced by its bench. Texas Tech, however, couldn’t. Which, you know, I’m a little concerned about the possible difference in the amount of depth between these two teams.
The Razorbacks managed to get 23 points from the Arkansas bench when facing the Red Raiders. As for Texas Tech? Well, the Red Raiders had a grand total of eight points from the bench. Which is bad! Very bad!
No. 3: The free throw shooting disparity in this matchup is a bit concerning to me
Without getting to into the weeds about the fact that Texas Tech only managed to get to the free throw line a grand total of 10 times while the Razorbacks happened to get 26 free throw attempts, we can talk about how Texas Tech was absolutely horrendous at the free throw line when presented with the opportunity to get some points there.
Texas Tech went 3-of-10 from the free throw line in this game. In a game that Texas Tech lost by seven points, we have to talk about how the Red Raiders missed out on getting seven points because they couldn’t get free throws.
Arkansas made 14 more free throws than the Red Raiders, which is a rather significant difference and is something worth noting here.