Texas Tech Basketball: 3 takeaways from slim victory over Oklahoma

If you feed Marcus Santos-Silva regularly good things will happen

After Texas Tech’s loss to Kansas last week, I was shocked that there wasn’t more chatter surrounding Marcus Santos-Silva’s lack of touches inside. Sure, I suppose the officiating wasn’t the greatest in that contest, but I have no doubt in my mind that the Red Raiders would have been able to overcome that if they had gotten Santos-Silva more involved.

Against the Jayhawks, Santos-Silva finished with zero points on 0-2 shooting from the field and was virtually invisible during his 19 minutes of play. Mac McClung and Terrence Shannon Jr. combined for 41 points that night, but their high-level performances may have resulted in a victory if the Red Raiders had opted to feed Santos-Silva on a regular basis on either block and allowed him to operate.

On Tuesday night, the Red Raiders decided to give Santos-Silva a chance to prove his worth down low, and I think that it’s safe to say that the VCU transfer did not disappoint. Santos-Silva’s performance against Oklahoma was the definition of a highly efficient outing, as he netted 18 points on an outstanding 9-13 shooting from the field (69.2%).

I think that because Texas Tech’s guards did more than just rifle passes into Santos-Silva, as he was battling for position on either block, Santos-Silva was able to be as effective as he could possibly be. McClung did a tremendous job of either staying patient while he was dealing with double teams, or taking his man off the dribble, encountering a help-side defender, and then making the right read.

For example, Texas Tech’s first offensive possession of the game featured McClung setting a screen in the middle of the paint for Terrence Shannon Jr. (who sprinted toward the left block), bolting off of a screen set close to the right block by Santos-Silva, taking one dribble toward the basket after catching the ball in the right corner, and then dishing the ball over to Santos Silva with his left hand, after Kur Kuath stepped over to cut him off.

Santos-Silva was able to finish off the play successfully by taking one power dribble with his left hand and then rising up for an uncontested jump hook (which he made).

There was another instance that occurred with 18:50 remaining in the contest when Mac McClung received a dribble-handoff from Santos-Silva, was met with a double team on the right side of the floor, started to attract two other defenders who were only focused on preventing a layup at the rim, waited for Santos-Silva to dive to the left block/basket, and then executed a beautiful no-look two-handed dime to Santos-Silva (who finished a left-handed layup).

Of course, Santos-Silva is capable of doing damage down low without one of Texas Tech’s guards setting him up perfectly, but it certainly helps to have guards that can force defenses to get out of position, and then hit Santos-Silva at the right moment (which then allows him to score without having to work as hard). If Texas Tech wants to be successful moving forward, they must make sure that Santos-Silva gets involved in the action whenever he is on the floor.