Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders adjust to life without Cambridge; beat ORU

Texas Tech shuts down an elite scorer

Though the Red Raider's defensive effort was suspect at times against the Golden Eagles, it was good enough to keep one of the country's best scorers in check all night.

Entering the game, ORU's Issac McBride was averaging 22.8 points per game. He had scored over 20 points in five games already and he had only one contest in which he had not gone for at least 19.

However, the Red Raiders limited him to just nine points on 3-14 shooting including 3-11 from 3-point range. It was the worst shooting night of his season and it dropped his scoring average by four points.

Much of the credit for this defensive effort goes to Isaacs and Toussaint, the two players who spent the most time on McBride. While he did get his shots, he was rarely wide open and by the time he did hit a shot or two, Tech had established enough of a cushion to prevent him from making a difference.

In the Big 12, Tech will see elite guards almost every night. In fact, most of the upper-tier teams will feature multiple high-end guards.

Thus, it is still concerning that a player like Bedford was able to go nuts. Tech was able to survive that big night from him though, because McBride was held in check. Had McBride had his usual performance, we would be talking about a Red Raider loss but because of the defensive play of the Red Raider guards, he couldn't help his team spring the upset.