First-year head coach Mark Adams and the Texas Tech basketball team faced their first true test of the season last night as they took on Providence Basketball in Rhode Island. The Red Raiders jumped out to an early 27-13 lead midway through the first half and seemingly looked like the much better team.
Forced to adjust, Providence head coach Ed Cooley dialed up a full-court pressure and 2-3 zone combination that sent the Red Raiders into complete disarray. On top of this, the Red Raiders dealt with foul troubles early and often. Texas Tech’s entire starting lineup other than Kevin Obanor was in foul trouble heading into the second half.
Texas Tech ended up sending Providence to the charity stripe 38 times after limiting the Friars to only 19 made field goals throughout the game. Texas Tech still somehow had a chance to take the lead with under 20 seconds remaining in the game but sloppy decision-making ultimately plagued the Red Raiders in crunch time and they ended up losing 68-72.
Luckily for Texas Tech, this will be a huge learning experience for their entire team and staff, and they should ultimately come out of this game improved. Providence is also building quite the resume as they now have three victories against KenPom top-40 teams early in the season.
Now that the dust has settled and I’ve had some time to review the film and analytics, here are my three key takeaways from the Red Raider’s close loss to Providence.