Texas Tech Basketball: 3 takeaways from slim victory over Oklahoma

Mac McClung was big-time late against Oklahoma.

As I have been saying for quite some time now, Mac McClung is a big-time player who refuses to hide in crunch time. Even if you aren’t terribly fond of his playstyle or demeanor on the floor, you should at least give the guy credit for wanting the ball in his hands late in games. McClung’s overall performance against Oklahoma on Tuesday was nothing spectacular, but when the Red Raiders needed a bucket late in the ball game, McClung was prepared to deliver the goods.

McClung finished with 16 points on 5-14 shooting from the field (35.7%), and he certainly scored a few tough baskets in the contest, but no basket was tougher than the one he converted with less than a minute to play in regulation. Oklahoma was trailing 63-61 with around 30 seconds remaining when McClung reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out a finishing move that many 6’2″ guards can only dream of being able to perform.

McClung began the possession by sizing up Austin Reaves to see which move(s) would be effective against him. During the possession, Reaves continued to shift his feet multiple times, which made it look like he was confused as to how he wanted to defend McClung.

When McClung had the ball in his right hand and proceeded to put it through his legs, Reaves’ right foot was far too high and could have easily been exploited if McClung chose to take that route (but he let him off the hook).

However, when McClung crossed back over to his right, Reaves’ left foot was too high, and this time McClung did not spare Reaves, as he elected to attack his left foot while it was still exposed. I think that because McClung recognized that Reaves would not be able to drop his left foot in time and stay in front of him/ force him to turn back the other way, McClung exploded past him, and eventually forced Reaves to play defense from behind.

However, when McClung arrived at the rim, he was met with two help-side defenders and a trailing Reaves. Most basketball analysts will say that McClung should have whipped a pass over to Nimari Burnett in the left corner, or Micah Peavy who was cutting toward the basket, but when you are athletic as McClung is, you can get away with making what many would call a questionable decision.

After McClung realized that it would be harder for him to finish a layup on the right side, he decided to gather himself, use his leaping ability to help him remain in the air for as long as possible (and avoid getting his shot blocked), and then finish an unbelievable acrobatic reverse layup with his left hand. It truly looked like McClung had no chance of finishing at the rim over 3 defenders in real-time, but when the level of difficulty started to increase dramatically, McClung rose to the challenge and showed that no finish is impossible for him to complete.

Immediately after that, McClung demanded the ball when Oklahoma continued to fight to stay alive and drilled 4 straight free throws to help the Red Raiders stay in front of the Sooners. If you weren’t sure if McClung was capable of closing out games at the highest level, Tuesday’s game should have eliminated any doubt that you may have had.

Texas Tech is going to need McClung to step up consistently if the Red Raiders want to make another appearance in the final four, and I think that McClung will have no problem coming through when Texas Tech needs him the most.