There was hesitation to declare Texas Tech basketball a contender in the Big 12 earlier. After a road win in Allen Fieldhouse, there should now be no question.
Last season, Texas Tech played just one good team in non-conference play and lost that game. The Red Raiders picked up a few wins in conference play that put them in the bubble conversation for a minute, before faltering in the late stretch.
This season started out similar, in that outside of splitting the games between Seton Hall and Nevada, there weren’t any other good teams to care about (although Boston College is better than expected).
With the league being so good top to bottom, there were many questions as to where this team stood in the power structure of the Big 12. In my rankings for the league heading into conference play, I had the Red Raiders last because they were the team I least knew were truly good.
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And that’s why I had to hold myself accountable and write this piece, praising the coaching efforts of Chris Beard and the senior leader Keenan Evans, who might be the most impressive player not named Trae Young in the league.
I watched the game on Tuesday night against Kansas and watched the road team take the early lead. Even when it stretched to double-digits in the first half, in my mind I was thinking: “Texas Tech is good, but they’re in Allen Fieldhouse and Kansas will come back in the second half and win”.
Boy was I wrong. For a lack of a better term, Texas Tech “punked” the Jayhawks in the first half. They killed them on the boards and used a defense whose numbers I thought were inflated due to a weak schedule to overwhelm them.
As expected, Kansas fought back to make it close at the end, but Texas Tech 13-1 (2-0) ultimately won the game after never trailing. The numbers for both teams in terms of shooting were similar, but the Red Raiders dominated the boards, winning 44-29, with 18 coming on the offensive end.
Keenan Evans led the team in scoring once again with 15 points, and outside of scoring zero against Savannah State, he’s reached double-figures in every game. He’s not an explosive 30-point scoring threat, but will consistently drop 15-20 every night. Evans had an off-shooting night this time, but more often than not is a consistent No. 1 option.
But it’s been a couple of newcomers who’ve come in and made a tremendous impact off the bench. Freshmen Zhaire Smith and Jarrett Culver each scored 10+ off the bench, and are 10+ ppg players for the season.
Because of how good the two have been off the bench, it’s allowed Beard to start the better defenders and have good scorers on the bench at all times. It may have come at the expense of Zach Smith, who got the starting nod in last night’s game, but played just six minutes and went scoreless on the night.
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Texas Tech is now 2-0 and is tied with West Virginia for the top of the Big 12 standings, with Oklahoma unbeaten as well. As long as the Red Raiders doesn’t lose six of eight like they have in the past, they’ll be guaranteed an NCAA bid. But something tells me that the goals are a bit higher for this team, who plans on taking everyone by storm.