Last week, the Texas Tech basketball team competed in the Legends Classic in Brooklyn, New York where the Red Raiders were tested for the first time this season. In losing to Saint Joseph's 78-77 on Thursday night and then beating Syracuse 78-74 on Friday night, head coach Grant McCasland's team learned quite a bit about itself after opening the season with four-straight cupcake opponents.
The Red Raiders needed to be pushed in the non-conference portion of the schedule and that happened in the two neutral-site games. At times, it was evident that the Red Raiders had yet to take a punch from a serious team thus far in 2024-25.
That was certainly the case in the first half of the opening game against Saint Joseph's. In those 20 minutes of basketball, Tech looked out of sorts and a bit shell-shocked after the Hawks came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders. That led to a deficit that grew to as large as 16 points before McCasland's squad found its footing and began to fight back.
In the second game, the Red Raiders controlled the action for most of the evening and held off a pesky Syracuse team that had a bit of a home-court advantage by playing in its home state. It was a great rebound performance from Tech and evidence that the lessons learned in the loss to Saint Joseph's were applied to Friday's effort.
Of course, the event will be viewed as a bit of a disappointment, though, because the Red Raiders didn't get to play Texas as was everyone's hope. By falling just short of beating the Hawks, Tech missed out on getting to play the opponent that everyone in Scarlet and Black wanted to see the Red Raiders face.
Still, the two games Tech played in Brooklyn were important early mile markers because they were the first time we got to see this reconstructed team face a pair of teams with a pulse for the first time. So let's take a look at what we learned about the Red Raiders over the course of the Legends Classic.
Texas Tech will struggle when the 3-pointers don't fall
There is simply no denying the fact that the Texas Tech basketball team is going to rely heavily on the 3-point shot as a cornerstone of its offensive attack. That's wise given that the team has excellent shooters in Kerwin Walton and Chance McMillan as well as capable marksmen such as Christian Anderson, Darrion Williams, Kevin Overton, and others.
But the first game in Brooklyn showed us that this team will struggle when the 3-ball betrays it. Against Saint Joseph's, Tech was just 4-20 from beyond the arc. As a result, the offense looked lost and stagnant, especially in the first half when the Red Raiders were just 1-10 from deep.
As Tech realized that the 3-pointers weren't going to fall that night, it took more than half the game for a noticeable adjustment to be made. But eventually, Tech went inside to sophomore star JT Toppin who became the focal point of the offense. That was how the Red Raiders crept back into the game to eventually take a slim lead late in the second half.
Still, though, the offense was not effective in that game and players like Walton (8 points in 25 minutes) and McMillian (17 points in 27 minutes) had to find other ways to impact the scoreboard than just relying on their outside shot. Hopefully, what they learned will help them be quicker to adjust the next time they find that they are cold from the outside because Tech can't afford to waste half of the game before trying a new approach when the 3s aren't falling.
Texas Tech may have its best frontcourt in recent memory
This year, the Red Raiders' two best players, Toppin and Williams, call the frontcourt home. In fact, they could be the best frontcourt duo the program has featured in quite some time.
So far, they are averaging 35.8 points and 15.6 rebounds between them. That makes them arguably the best one-two post punch in the Big 12.
In Brooklyn, each had a game where he carried his team. Against Saint Joseph's, Toppin put his team on his back with 22 points, 18 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals, and 2 assists. Then, the next night, Williams posted 20 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal in the win over Syracuse.
Coming into this year, it was fair to wonder if Toppin would be as effective playing a starring role for a Big 12 team as he was last season for New Mexico when he was the Moutain West Freshman of the Year. It was also to be seen whether Williams would take a step forward and become a star in the Big 12 as a junior after being a third-team all-conference honoree as a sophomore.
Both appear to have taken their games to new levels this season and we saw what each is capable of in Brooklyn as that duo averaged 37.5 points and 18 rebounds per game against two legitimate opponents. That's a sign that this frontcourt tandem could be the best his program has featured in a long time.
This team is still has an offense-first mindset
There is no question that head coach Grant McCasland is a defensive-minded coach. That's what he's built his early-career success on and its what he wants his program at Tech to be all about.
However, he has adapted to his personnel in his two seasons in Lubbock and allowed his rosters to do what they do best, score. This year, the hope was that he would find a way to have an elite offensive and defensive team but so far, this team is still executing much better when it has the basketball.
Tech ranks 16th nationally in the KenPom.com adjusted offensive efficiency metric. Meanwhile, the Red Raiders are 40th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency.
In Brooklyn, Tech played poor defense in different ways in the two games. Against Saint Josephs, Tech allowed the Hawks way too many open 3-point looks and that proved to be deadly as the Hawks went 12-22 (54.5%) from deep.
Then, against the Orange, Tech was unable to defend without fouling. That night, they sent Syracuse to the free-throw line 28 times where they would hit 24 attempts (85.7%).
The Red Raiders have struggled all season with stopping dribble penetration from the top of the key. That's something that McCasland has repeatedly harped on and that was again an issue in Brooklyn.
Ultimately, that is preventing this team's defense from being excellent. Tech is strong in a number of areas such as rebounding and protecting the rim but keeping ball handlers out of the lane has been a problem and that reared its ugly head in Brooklyn. Hopefully, it's an issue that Tech will figure out by the time Big 12 play arrives on New Year's Eve.