Friday night, the Texas Tech basketball team played its only true road game before the start of Big 12 play. Fortunately, it didn't count in the standings.
In an exhibition game against No. 23 Kentucky, the No. 19 Red Raiders were outmuscled 76-65. Playing without star forward JT Toppin and UCF transfer forward Jamichael Stillwell, the eventual expected starting frontcourt for head coach Grant McCasland, Tech was dominated inside by the Wildcats.
Though the rebounding battle and the points in the paint were essentially even for both teams, it was obvious that Kentucky's size was a factor. 7-foot sophomore Malachi Moreno had 15 points and six rebounds to lead his team.
Moreno, who weighs 250 pounds, was a bull inside against a Red Raider lineup missing its two best interior defenders, Toppin and Stillwell. The hope is that the 6-foot-8, 245-pound Stillwell will be ruled eligible by the court system in time to begin the season because his absence was felt in the middle.
Another area where Tech struggled was three-point shooting. That was a surprise given that this roster has four players who shot over 40% from distance a season ago.
For the night, the Red Raiders went just 8-30 (26.7%) from beyond the arc. Though he did lead the team with three made 3-pointers, returning sharpshooter Donovan Atwell missed eight attempts from deep in an uncharacteristically poor shooting night.
Finding offense was a struggle for Tech. That's where Toppin was missed. With no post presence to dump the ball to on the blocks, Tech looked unsettled and uncertain on many offensive sets. Plus, Kentucky had no worries about Tech's post-up game, meaning the Wildcats could focus on harassing the Red Raider guards at the 3-point line.
Unfortunately, Darrion Williams couldn't pick up the slack. In his first televised action for Tech after returning from NC State, he put up just nine points on 4-7 shooting. It looked as if he was not really searching for opportunities to take over the game, something that this team will need him to do until Toppin returns.
One bright spot for McCasland's team was the play of Damarion Dennis. A junior transfer guard from Wyoming, the Dallas native came off the bench to score 11 points. The downside, though, is that all of those points came in the first half.
With Dennis held scoreless in the second half, Tech's two other transfer guards, Cruz Davis and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, couldn't generate enough offense to carry the team. Both averaged over 20 points per game a season ago playing at the mid-major level, but on Friday, they went a combined 5-23 from the floor for 17 points. They also combined to turn the ball over six times, with five of those giveaways attributed to Davis.
Keep in mind that Davis is just 6-foot-3, and Gibbs-Lawhorn is only 6-foot-1. That lack of size in the starting backcourt was evident as both seemed to struggle at times with Kentucky's length on the perimeter. It is fair to think that each of these new Texas Tech guards will have to adjust to the size of opposing guards at the major-conference level.
Finally, one other area where Tech struggled was in terms of free-throw disparity. The Red Raiders were outscored 19-5 at the line. While a discrepancy is not unusual on the road, one of that size is indicative of a team's lack of aggression.
Of course, that's another area where Toppin usually makes a difference given his ability to draw contact on the blocks. So McCasland and his staff will have to figure out how to adjust in that area of the game as well.
Though this was not a great showing for Texas Tech, it was an opportunity for this team to learn and grow. Now, the focus turns to the regular season, which tips off Monday, November 2 against Jackson State in Lubbock. Hopefully, when that game rolls around, the lessons learned Friday in Lexington will be evident.
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