You know, it’s never a bad thing to go out and get a win over the No. 4 team in the country. I fail to see that as anything but good for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Grant McCasland and his crew happened to do just that Saturday afternoon as the Red Raiders went to Ames and handed the Iowa State Cyclones an 82-73 loss.
Obviously that’s a good thing, but it’s a good thing from a few different angles. Sure, there’s the win in and of itself. Wins alone are good all on their own and should be celebrated. Then there’s the stakes of this win in the Big 12 seeding for the conference tournament.
And beyond that, there’s the fact that Texas Tech really boosted its resume in such an impressive way for the NCAA Tournament. Going on the road without your leading scorer and rebounder and getting a nine-point win over the No. 4 team in the country? That’s going to impress a lot of people.
A quick look at Texas Tech’s victory over the Cyclones
Let’s just go over the game real quick. Texas Tech managed to shoot incredibly efficiently, draining 58.5 percent of their shots from the floor and 48.3 percent of their shots from three point range. This team was just very, very effective in this matchup and there were some shocking stats that came as a result of that.
Here’s a sampling of who stepped up for Texas Tech against No. 4 Iowa State
There were so many moments in which several Red Raiders managed to perform at very high levels. This was, in so many ways, a complete and total team win for Texas Tech.
It’s hard to get into all of the angles on that, but Donovan Atwell managed to make 6-of-10 when shooting from deep, Christian Anderson showed up for 14 points and seven assists, Luke Bamgboye and Josiah Moseley each managed to get nine rebounds. And so on and so forth. So many key contributors. So much to be grateful for.
Texas Tech now owns a slice of the No. 2 spot in the Big 12
The regular season is getting closer to ending. March is right here in front of us. And getting a tie for the No. 2 spot in the Big 12 standings is huge. The way Texas Tech played today is huge. There’s so much to be thrilled about with the Red Raiders right in this moment.