Busting Brackets
Fansided

Texas Tech Basketball: A look at what Mac McClung brings to Red Raiders

By Caleb Hightower

WASHINGTON, DC- JANUARY 08: Mac McClung #2 of the Georgetown Hoyas dribbles by Josh Roberts #1 of the St. John's Red Storm during a college basketball game at the Capital One Arena on January 8, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC- JANUARY 08: Mac McClung #2 of the Georgetown Hoyas dribbles by Josh Roberts #1 of the St. John's Red Storm during a college basketball game at the Capital One Arena on January 8, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 6
Next
Mac McClung
LUBBOCK, TEXAS – MARCH 07: The Texas Tech Red Raiders (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

Mac McClung made the huge decision to transfer to Texas Tech Basketball. Here’s what the high-flying guard brings to the program.

When the 2019-2020 college basketball season prematurely concluded on March 12th, I can honestly say that I did not expect an abundance of players to pack up their belongings, and continue their college careers elsewhere. With so much uncertainty at that moment and the current COVID-19 pandemic we are living in, I assumed that the idea of transferring to a different program was going to be the last thing that players had on their minds.

Texas Tech’s electric star guard, Mac McClung shocked me the most with his May 13th announcement that he would be pulling his name out of the NBA Draft, and transferring from Georgetown (per ESPN’s Jonathan Givony).  On May 27th, McClung revealed that he would be joining the Red Raiders via Twitter. The 6’2″ junior guard averaged 13.1 points per game his freshman season, and 15.7 points per game this past season, despite missing 11 games due to a foot and eye injury.

https://twitter.com/McclungMac/status/1265722767590207494

I struggled mightily to understand his decision at first, due to the fact that Patrick Ewing gave him the one thing that many players beg for, but often never receive, which is offensive freedom. Now, in order to receive that freedom, you have to demonstrate that you can be a consistently high-level scorer who can operate from anywhere on the floor, without having to rely on ball screens to help free yourself up.

I think it’s safe to say that McClung was able to show Ewing that he could be trusted with the ball in his hands frequently, and be the go-to guy in late-game situations when the floor was spaced to his liking. With that being said, McClung’s elite play night in and night out did not equate to many wins (34-31 combined record in two seasons), which probably didn’t sit too well with him.

When I took the time to consider his point of a view, his decision to look for a fresh start at Texas Tech became perfectly clear to me. And while I know that there may have been several other factors that led to his decision, this one appears to make the most sense. In my opinion, McClung desperately wanted to be a part of a program that has demonstrated recent success, and although I’m sure that he is happy with the personal success he was able to achieve at Georgetown, his desire to play with players that can help him attain the team success that he is looking for, is what I think ultimately caused him to make that move.

I’m aware that McClung is a highly regarded player, and many of you are still in the process of coming up with a list of expectations for him to meet, but before you do that, have you thought about trying to thoroughly analyze his game first? If not, don’t sweat it, because I have you covered. In this article, I will be discussing all of his strengths and weaknesses, so that you know exactly what kind of player the Red Raiders are getting. I will quickly point out that Texas Tech fans should be ecstatic about McClung, because he is a player that understands how to use his natural athleticism and offensive ability, to score in a variety of ways.

Home/Texas Tech Red Raiders