It’s a somewhat tricky thing to try to figure out how to feel about the Texas Tech women’s basketball team right now. Obviously it’s an objectively great thing that Krista Gerlich and the Texas Tech Lady Raiders made it back to the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, but there’s definitely a bit of concern about how Texas Tech has been playing recently.
So yeah, it’s exciting. And also definitely nerve wracking. I’m thrilled! And also more than just a little worried about Texas Tech’s chances right now.
Texas Tech has lost four of its last six games and the Lady Raiders haven’t exactly played all that great at times. With a matchup against Villanova coming up later this week, let’s take a look at a few concerning stats from Texas Tech’s struggles that will likely produce a bit of worry for some.
Or, well, you know. The stats are a little alarming to me. I don’t love them.
No. 1: Scoring just a handful of points in the fourth quarter against Kansas State is pretty alarming for Texas Tech
And let’s start with one of the most recently produced stats of the bunch. Like the four points that Texas Tech managed to score in the fourth quarter of the Big 12 tournament matchup with the Kansas State Wildcats.
That’s just a bad number, but there’s a bit more that makes it worse.
A bit of context that really showcases just how dreadful that number is would include that Kansas State allows teams to score 67.1 points per game. Break that out into quarters and teams are scoring over 16 points per quarter on average.
When we look at the actual amount scored on the season in the fourth quarter against Kansas State, we’ll see that the Wildcats have given up an average of 17.5 points per fourth quarter. And Texas Tech scored just four in the fourth quarter. Against a team that is 18-17 on the season.
That’s not good.
No. 2: Texas Tech’s scoring output has taken a nosedive during the Lady Raiders’ six most recent games
And unfortunately for the Lady Raiders, it’s not just fourth quarter scoring that has been bad in recent matchups (though that has been a bit worrying). Texas Tech is sliding into the NCAA women’s basketball tournament averaging 72 points per game on the season, which is decent.
But in the last six games that the Lady Raiders have played (a stretch during which Texas Tech has gone and won just two matchups), Texas Tech has averaged 64.7 points. And then in the four losses that Texas Tech suffered in that stretch, the Lady Raiders have averaged just 60.8 points per game.
All of that? Not good.
No. 3: The Lady Raiders seemingly just simply can’t make threes consistently anymore and that’s a huge problem
One huge reason for those scoring woes listed above? Well, that’d be the fact that Texas Tech has made just 29.4 percent of its three point attempts over the last six games. The Lady Raiders rely a bit upon made threes to drive the offense, but perimeter shooting has been a problem lately.
On the season, Texas Tech makes 34.3 percent of its attempts from deep. Unfortunately for Texas Tech, that just isn’t happening lately. And the Lady Raiders need to get that fixed ASAP.