One crucial area in which Texas Tech basketball must be better as season progresses

Thursday and Friday, the Texas Tech basketball team will finally play teams that can put up a fight. After facing four cupcake opponents in Lubbock to start the year, the Red Raiders will be in Brooklyn New York for the UKG Legends Classic where they will face Saint Joseph's in game one and either Texas or Syracuse in game two.

Now that the Red Raiders are going to face teams with a pulse, aspects of the game that haven't come into play in any game thus far could become huge factors in determining how head coach Grant McCasland's team fares this week.

One area that hasn't been a problem yet but which must improve is Texas Tech's free-throw shooting. That's an aspect of the game in which the Red Raiders were fantastic last year. However, through four games this season, the team's free-throw shooting has noticeably regressed.

This season, Tech ranks just 104th nationally and 6th in the Big 12 at 74.2% from the line. While those numbers are decent, they are a far cry from last season when the Red Raiders ranked 13th nationally and 1st in the Big 12 by shooting 78% as a team.

While a decrease of less than 4% might not seem like cause for alarm, there are other concerning free-throw numbers that fans should be aware of. For instance, Tech isn't getting to the line as often this season.

Tech is averaging only 15.5 trips to the line this year. That's down four attempts per game from last season. That ranks just 311th nationally.

Much of that might be due to the number of 3-pointers Tech is shooting this season. Though it has been a small sample size, the Red Raiders seem to be dedicated to shooting more from long distance this year, which is understandable given how many excellent shooters there are on the team.

Free throws can be crucial in winning close games. In fact, one-possession games almost always come down to what happens at the line.

That was a big component of Tech's success a season ago when the Red Raiders averaged almost 4 more free throws made per game than their opponents. What's more, Tech shot 7% better at the line than its opponents last season.

There were four members of last season's rotation that shot better than 80% from the line. That was a huge benefit in close games as it made it incredibly difficult for other teams to make up ground late by intentionally fouling.

This year, though, Darrion Williams is the only Red Raider with more than one free-throw attempt to have a shooting percentage from the line over 80%. Meanwhile, Chance McMillan has dropped from 90.9% last season to 75%. Hopefully, he will find his touch again and soon because he will have his hands on the ball quite a bit in close games.

Also, last year, Tech had guards Joe Toussaint and Pop Isaacs shoot 86.3% and 83.6% respectively at the line. Their departures could take a toll on Tech's free-throw shooting this year.

The two players who have essentially replaced them, are Elijah Hawkins and Christian Anderson. For his career, Hawkins has been good but not elite at the line shooting 77%. Meanwhile, we don't know what type of free-throw shooter Anderson will be at the college level given that he's attempted only one free throw thus far (which he made).

So as the Red Raiders step up in competition this week, keep an eye on how they perform at the free-throw line. That's because that's an area where the team has taken a bit of a step backward this year and it could be what decides the close games that will inevitably crop up as the season wears on.