At the end of the season, they only care how many you win, not how beautiful you look in doing so. That's great news for the Texas Tech basketball team which secured an ugly 61-57 road win over Kansas State in Manhattan on Tuesday night.
Fortunately, when the game was on the line, Tech's best player, Darrion Williams, made a play to seal the win. Despite playing after rolling his ankle, the junior hit an off-balance shot with 17 seconds to play to give his team some breathing room and put the game to bed. He finished with a game-high 16 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists to help the Red Raiders improve to 3-2 in Big 12 play with all three of those wins coming away from Lubbock.
All night, the Red Raiders had to manufacture their own energy. Playing in an arena that was not even a third full and facing a team that is near the bottom of the conference standings, Tech endured a classic trap game on the heels of Saturday's near upset of then No. 3 Iowa State. Thankfully, the Red Raiders survived an ugly showing that saw them turn the ball over 14 times and make only four of their seven free throws.
Sometimes, good teams find ways to win when they don't have their "A" game and that's what Tech did on Tuesday night. Let's take a closer look at the stats for some quick thoughts on the latest Texas Tech victory.
Texas Tech claims a game that neither team seemed to want to win down the stretch
The story of this game is going to be that neither team played well. That was especially true down the stretch as both teams tried their best to give the win away.
Texas Tech went from the 5:28 mark of the second half until the basket by Williams with 17 seconds to play without scoring. During that time, the Red Raiders committed four turnovers and were 0-4 from the field. What's more, forward JT Toppin missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity at the free-throw line.
However, that was nothing compared to how Kansas State ended the game. The Wildcats were scoreless for the final 5:50 of the game. Over that span, they went 0-8 from the floor with six of those misses coming from 3-point range.
In the end, neither team is going to be proud of how it played on Tuesday night. However, in a game that was uglier than a Texas A&M class reunion photo, Tech found a way to make just enough plays down the stretch.
Texas Tech gets almost nothing from two of its stars
Prior to this game, he we known that the Red Raiders would get a combined nine points from Chance McMillian and JT Toppin, just about everyone would have thought that they would have been in trouble. However, thanks to Williams' 16 points and 14 points, nine assists, and five rebounds from Elijah Hawkins, Tech was able to survive.
Following the game, head coach Grant McCasland said that Toppin was under the weather. That could explain why he looked a step slow on both ends of the court and went just 3-7 from the floor for six points while grabbing only four rebounds in 15 minutes of action.
Meanwhile, McMillian just couldn't shake free from the KSU perimeter defense. He was able to get only four shots on the night and he was 0-2 from 3-point range as teams continue to sell out to try to stop him from getting open looks from behind the arc.
With the quiet nights from McMillian and Toppin as well as just two points from guard Kerwin Walton, Tech got only eleven total points from three of its starting five. Thankfully, that didn't spell doom on this occasion.
Federiko rebounds from poor showing to give Texas Tech a boost
One unsung hero for Texas Tech on Tuesday was forward Federiko Federiko. On a night when Toppin was a ghost of himself, Federiko played 28 minutes scoring nine points and grabbing seven rebounds.
It was great to see the senior big man respond after playing poorly against Iowa State on Saturday when he scored only three points and grabbed four rebounds in 15 minutes of action. What's more, two games ago, against BYU, Federiko had only four points in 24 minutes.
But prior to those two outings, he had been playing well. In the three previous games, the transfer from Pitt had put up 23, 12, and 14 points off the bench. Hopefully, the performance he gave on Tuesday night will help get him back to playing well because Tech is a much better team when Federiko contributes meaningfully.