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Recent trends bode well for Texas Tech basketball's Big 12 Tournament potential and beyond
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- Recent trends bode well for Texas Tech basketball's Big 12 Tournament potential and beyond
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The mark of a good team, and a good coach, is the ability to adapt when necessary.
Grant McCasland and the 25th-ranked Texas Tech basketball team have done just that throughout the conference portion of the regular season. Though the team's identity has been rooted in the same principles, the 4-seed Red Raiders have made some marked improvements as of late, which should serve the squad well as postseason play begins Thursday at 11:30 a.m. against 5-seed BYU in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament in the T-Mobile Center.
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Even while the team struggled throughout February, one area the team firmed up came on the defensive end, namely a much improved presence on the 3-point line. Through the first nine Big 12 games, opponents were shooting 38.8% from three against the Red Raiders (22-9). The last nine have been much better with Texas Tech holding opponents to 27.3% from deep.
McCasland said after the Baylor game that improvement comes from a change in defensive philosophy, which has been necessitated by the absence of 7-foot center Warren Washington .
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"With Warren and with our lineups," McCasland said last Saturday, "we've been in a retreat mode and kind of played backing up and this team, we're being more aggressive. Our activity off the ball in our help is more active. Our coaching staff has just done an awesome job of helping create more attack defensive as opposed to retreat."
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In the first half of conference play, four teams made at least 10 threes against Texas Tech. In the second half, only one team ( West Virginia ) hit more than six in a game. On average, opponents are making 2.3 less 3-pointers per game and shooting 2.5 less in the last nine contests.
This improvement on defense will come in handy against a No. 20 BYU (23-9) squad that lives and dies by the 3-pointer. The Cougars are second in the nation in 3-point attempts, averaging more than 32 per game. BYU showed their willingness to chuck in its second-round win over UCF , eight of its first 11 shot attempts came from beyond the arc.
Ja'Kobe Walter #4 of Baylor shoots the ball over Pop Isaacs #2 of Texas Tech during the second half of the game at United Supermarkets Arena on Saturday, March 09, 2024 in Lubbock, Texas.
The Red Raiders have also crashed the glass much harder as of late. Tech has won the rebounding battle in each of its last three games after only having three in the first 15 contests.
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Pop Isaacs has also been a key in Tech's strong final three games of the regular season. Isaacs had a five-game stretch — where Tech went 2-3 — where he shot 9.6% from 3-point range (3-for-31) and averaged 9.8 points. Since then, the all-Big 12 selection has found his groove, shooting 34.6% from deep (9-of-26) and averaging 16.5 points in the last four contests.
Then there's this: during Tech's 5-1 start to Big 12 play, the Red Raiders had more assists than turnovers in all five wins. Ten of Tech's 11 conference wins came when the team had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio — they lost at TCU with 23 assists compared to 13 turnovers — and lost at Baylor with the same amount of helpers as giveaways.
Defense, shooting, rebounding and taking care of the ball. Sometimes, basketball really is that simple, and it's a formula that could be beneficial to the team in March.
Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament: Quarterfinals
(5) BYU Cougars vs. (4) Texas Tech Red Raiders
When: Thursday, 11:30 a.m.
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Where: T-Mobile Center; Kansas City, Missouri
Records: BYU 23-9, Texas Tech 22-9
AP Rankings: BYU No. 20, Texas Tech No. 25
TV:ESPN2
Notable:Texas Tech won the lone meeting with BYU in the regular season, overcoming a 17-point deficit in the first half to secure an 85-78 win in Lubbock on Jan. 20
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Recent trends bode well for Texas Tech basketball's Big 12 Tournament potential
