One of the biggest transfers from this entire offseason was Texas Tech Basketball landing Fardaws Aimaq. He’s a 6’11 senior center from Utah Valley and has been one of the biggest stars of the WAC for the past couple of years.
Aimaq averaged 18.9 ppg and 13.6 rpg this past season, including multiple 20-20 performances. He also was the WAC Defensive Player of the Year, an award he won twice while with the Wolverines. In the year prior, the big man led the country with 15.0 rpg and was the WAC Player of the Year overall as well.
When he entered the transfer portal early in the offseason, all of the top teams in the country entered the recruiting process. In the end, the Red Raiders got their replacement for Bryson Williams in the frontcourt and a natural fit for their defensive system. Unfortunately, it looks like it’ll be a long delay before we say Aimaq on the court this season.
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A broken foot injury for a big man can take a long time to fully heal and allow a player to get close to 100%. It’s being reported that Aimaq will be out at least 2-3 months and Big 12 play may be the earliest when he returns. Texas Tech will re-evaluate the situation monthly but it’s certainly a huge blow to the team’s chances.
Will this derail the Red Raiders and their postseason aspirations? And where does the team go from here in order to replace what Aimaq was set to produce? Here are three takeaways from this injury.
1. Look for Daniel Batcho to step in as the new starting center
The loss of Aimaq creates some frontcourt depth issues, particularly at the center position. Not only is the UVU transfer out but the absence of Marcus Santos-Silva, who started two years ago and provided depth off the bench last season, is going to be felt also. This leaves the frontcourt depth of returning starting forward Kevin Obanor, three-star freshman forward Robert Jennings, and Daniel Batcho.
Batcho is now the lone true healthy center on the team, listed at 6’11 and around 250 pounds. He started his career at Arizona but ultimately redshirted before transferring. Last season, he averaged 2.2 ppg and 2.7 rpg in fewer than 10 mpg off the bench. His playing fluctuated between 15-20 mpg at times and barely got on the court other times.
But Batcho did look very impressive when he was given time on the court. He had double-digit rebounds against Tennessee and Omaha while playing impressive defense against Drew Timme of Gonzaga when those teams matched up last season. The big man may not be much of an offensive threat but as a defender and rebounder, should be able to hold down the center position for 20-25 mpg while Aimaq is out.
He’s also a good example of why teams should have depth at every position because as far as backups go, Texas Tech could certainly do worse than Batcho.
2. Kevin Obanor is capable of being the focal point of the offense
The weakness of Batcho is that he’s not a great scorer, which means that if the frontcourt is going to produce offensively while Aimaq is out, it’ll have to come from Obanor. In his first season at Texas Tech, the 6’8 forward averaged 10.0 ppg and 5.5 rpg on 47% shooting from the field and 34% from three-point range in 26 mpg and starting all 37 games.
Of course, Obanor’s numbers weren’t close to the near 20 ppg and 10 rpg numbers that he was putting up at the offensively-friendly system at Oral Roberts. However, the forward proved that he could be a solid-enough defender to play at Texas Tech and in the Big 12 overall, which was a huge question a year ago.
There were signs towards the end of last season that Obanor could be a leading offensive player. He finished the 2021-22 campaign with seven straight double-digit scoring outputs, including 15 points and 15 rebounds in the Round of 32 win over Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament.
He played second-fiddle to Bryson Williams in the frontcourt last season, which affected his own production. With Aimaq out of the picture, that won’t be an issue. And Obanor can also play some small-ball center whenever Batcho isn’t on the court and his spacing ability can help boost the overall offense for the Red Raiders. There aren’t any “winners” when someone gets hurt but look for the numbers for Obanor to take a leap now this season.
3. Loss of Aimaq opens up opportunities for others
Besides Batcho, not having a guy that was likely going to provide 25-30 mpg at a position will essentially rearrange the depth chart for everyone else. That’s especially true if Obanor has to play at the five-spot for a decent portion of his own minutes. It’s been mentioned that freshman forward Jennings has a chance to get rotation minutes early on and if he impresses, can be the key frontcourt piece of the future once both Obanor and Aimaq are gone after the season.
Another player to watch is Jaylon Tyson, who has had an interesting career to this point. He originally committed to Texas Tech before following head coach Chris Beard to Texas. Yet after playing just eight games last season, he transferred back to the Red Raiders midway in the year. He’s a former top-50 prospect and a 6’7 wing that can play multiple positions.
If he’s good enough, they could find him some minutes at the four-spot and allow UNC transfer Kerwin Walton to primarily play on the wing. Then Gardner-Webb transfer D’maurian Williams can handle the shooting guard position, while Oregon transfer De’Vion Harmon and freshman Pop Isaacs can run the offense at the point.
This is a roster that still has depth and many of these guys can play multiple positions on the floor. And as long as the defense remains in the top tier nationally, opponents will still struggle to score on them. The question will be whether or not they’ll have enough scoring inside and out to win games and stay in the top half of the Big 12 while their key transfer pickup is on the sidelines.