Texas Tech basketball: Unsung heroes from Red Raiders' win in Austin

Robert Jennings plays his best game of the year for Texas Tech

Tough Warren Washington was one of the stars of the game, his backup, Robert Jennings, deserves some credit for his play as well. In fact, it was arguably Jennings' best game as a Red Raider.

At one point in the second half, the Texas Tech radio broadcast said that Jennings was leading the team in +/- at +15. Though I couldn't find how he ended up in that regard, it was clear that he had a positive impact on the game.

In his postgame remarks to the Tech radio crew, McCasland specifically mentioned Jennings by name as a player who helped turn the tide in Tech's first-half run to take control of the game. For the night, he finished with five points and a rebound in 12 minutes of action.

Those numbers, while modest, continue an uptick in the sophomore's play over the past few weeks. In each of Jennings' last three games, he's scored at least five points and played 12 or more minutes.

To put that in perspective, prior to that, he had only one showing of more than four points and only one game in which he had played over 12 minutes. In other words, it appears that Jennings is carving out a role for himself.

The good news for Tech is that Washington is proving to be a player who doesn't commit many fouls meaning that Jennings isn't forced to play so many minutes that he's overexposed. Rather, he can continue his development as a youngster, and against Texas, he did just that by being a positive force off the bench.