Tuesday afternoon in Lubbock, the Texas Tech basketball team learned a lesson that it will hopefully apply for the rest of the season. In an 87-83 loss to UCF, the Red Raiders found out that winning in the Big 12 requires maximum effort on both ends of the floor for a full 40 minutes.
That's not what head coach Grant McCasland got from his team in the conference opener. In fact, he didn't even come close to seeing his team put forth a full game's worth of effort.
Playing little defense and rebounding the ball poorly for approximately the first 30 minutes of the game, the Red Raiders fell into a hole that was as large as 18 points in the second half. Ultimately, that deficit was too large to overcome once the Red Raiders finally started playing well in the second half. Of course, some credit must also go to the Knights for a torrid shooting day.
As a team, the visitors drilled 51.8% of their field goals including 10-23 (43.5%) from 3-point range. They were led by guard Darius Johnson who scored 24 points (with eight coming at the free-throw line, many of which were made as UCF held off the Red Raider comeback) and his backcourt mate Keyshawn Hall who had 22 points, most of which came in the first half when he essentially carried his team to a 47-41 edge at the break.
This was a disappointing way for the Red Raiders to start conference play and it is a concerning development given that Tech has now lost three of the four games it has played against teams from a power conference.
So let's go inside the box score for some quick thoughts on the Red Raiders third loss of the season.
Texas Tech's guards couldn't match UCF's guards
While the four UCF starting guards were having themselves a day by going off for a combined 62 points, the Red Raider guards couldn't keep pace. Between them, Chance McMillan, Kerwin Walton, Elijah Hawkins, Christian Anderson, and Kevin Overton combined to score just 34 points.
Once again, it was frustrating to watch Kerwin Walton get to start a game and give Tech absolutely nothing. He played only seven minutes and accrued no stats other than one missed field goal. Why he still plays a single minute is a mystery.
Meanwhile, the team's best guard, McMillan, was quiet for most of the game. Though he made some big shots late to help Tech crawl back into the game, he ended the game with only 12 points on 4-11 shooting. What's more, he was just 1-4 from 3-point range including an awful contested 3-point shot that he air-balled when he was double-teamed in the final minute of the game with Tech down only three points.
The only way UCF was going to win this game was if their guards severely outplayed Tech's. The Red Raiders had an edge in the frontcourt so the Knights needed to have the edge in the backcourt and they had more than just an edge, they dominated that aspect of the game.
Once again, Texas Tech gives up a big 3-point shooting day to a good team
This Red Raider team is not good when trying to defend the 3-point shot. Playing a slew of poor teams in the non-conference has helped hide that fact and made the season statistics in that category acceptable. But against good teams, Tech has been torched from beyond the arc.
As we said, the Knights were 10-23 from deep. Meanwhile, Tech was just 3-16 (18.8%) in that area. It was reminscient of Tech's loss to Saint Joseph's earlier this season. In that one-point defeat, Tech allowed the Hawks to shoot 12-22 (54.5%) from 3-point range while the Red Raiders were just 4-20 (20%).
Something just isn't registering for this team when it comes to guarding the perimeter. It is tough for fans to know if that is communication, a lack of effort, missed assignments, or a lack of athleticism at the guard position but whatever it is, it cost the Red Raiders another game on Tuesday as the Knights had a 30-9 edge in scoring from 3-point range.
Darrion Williams struggles to find his scoring touch again
Another factor in this game was that while UCF had two players have huge days, two of Tech's best players, McMillan and Darrion Williams were not at their most efficient. In fact, that duo was just 9-27 (33.3%) from the floor and 1-7 from 3-point range.
We've already touched on McMillan's struggles but Williams wasn't any better. Tech's second-leading scorer ended with just 11 points while shooting a dreadful 5-16 from the floor. What's more, he only got to the free-throw line once.
In three of the last four games, Williams has failed to top 11 points. What's more, in the last two games against teams from a power conference, he's had just 11 points in each and shot a combined 8-24 (33.3%) from the field.
This team isn't going to accomplish anything in the Big 12 if Williams isn't a consistent offensive force. UCF had some size inside just as Texas A&M did and in both games, that size seemed to take him out of his game. He's going to see plenty of that from other teams in this conference so the junior needs to figure out how to be much more efficient offensively because Tech won't win very often if he plays like he did on Tuesday.
JT Toppin is a monster for Texas Tech
The one Red Raider who was able to play at his best on Tuesday was JT Toppin. Scoring 26 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while blocking four shots in just 28 minutes of action, he showed no signs of rust after missing the last four games with a lower-body injury.
Toppin finished the game 11-19 from the field. But at times, he did appear to be winded, which is to be expected given that he's missed most of the month of December.
If there is any criticism of Toppin's performance, though, it would have to be the 4-8 he was at the line. He was the only Red Raider to miss a free throw (Tech was 14-18 as a team) and on a couple of occasions, he missed critical free throws that could have helped the Red Raiders' comeback attempt.
It would be unfair to pin this loss on the sophomore given that he was by-far Tech's best player but his four missed free-throws proved to be critical in the closing moments of the game. Still, he was a monster against the Knights and that was great to see after an extended time away from competition.