Texas Tech Basketball: Takeaways from Red Raiders loss at Providence

Frontcourt struggles

Texas Tech’s frontcourt was considered a major strength heading into the game vs Providence. Bryson Williams, Kevin Obanor, Marcus-Santos Silva, and Daniel Batcho are all more than capable of dominating a game. Aside from Kevin Obanor who had an efficient game, the rest of the Red Raiders frontcourt completely disappeared. Bryson Williams went 1-9 and only pulled in two rebounds after 27 minutes of play. That’s just not going to cut it for Texas Tech. I can live with a bad scoring game but he was a liability on the boards which is where Texas Tech needed him most.

Texas Tech’s entire frontcourt combined for only nine rebounds which is incredibly bad for a team that was considered one of the better rebounding squads in the nation. It felt like the Red Raider bigs had little interest in boxing out and Providence simply worked harder on the boards.

Typically, teams that win the rebounding battle win the game. Especially offensive rebounds that lead to second-chance points in tight games. Coming into the game, Providence was one of the best teams in the nation at converting second-chance points and last night showed why.

Texas Tech will need to demand more from their entire frontcourt if they want to have a chance at the tournament this season. At a bare minimum, they need to assert their physicality when boxing out, especially against teams who thrive off of second-chance points like Providence.

Overall, I believe these are all coachable mistakes for Texas Tech and I’m still very high on them as a team. The fact they almost won this game on the road against a very good team while giving up 38 free throws is a promising sign. Texas Tech will need to put this one behind them quickly as they will face No. 13 Tennessee next week at Madison Square Garden.