The Red Raiders were smeared in Lawrence by the Kansas Jayhawks by 25 points. The game was out of hand within the first few minutes of play with the Jayhawks pulling to a big early lead. While ahead they never looked back. Tech had difficulty scoring until late in the 2nd half after the game was too far out of reach.
- Player of the Game | Toddrick Gotcher was the only Red Raider to score in double digits. He finished with 10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. He and Robert Turner also seemed to be the only guys moving full speed against Kansas in the 1st half.
- Stat of the Game | Rebounds. A positive for Tech was that they were only outrebounded overall by one against KU. Tech had 33 while KU had 34, and Tech actually won the offensive battle of the boards 13-9. That could be because KU didn’t have as many misses on the offensive side, but still we won in an important stats category. Jaye Crockett and Dejan Kravic led Tech with 6 rebounds each.
- How the Game was Lost | Texas Tech had their slow-tempo pace working in the first 5 minutes of the game with both teams missing shots. Then once Kansas starting hitting their buckets without any answers from Tech that was the writing on the wall. Trying to run down the shot clock and limiting the other team from scoring opportunities has worked many times this season for Tech, but not last night. The Red Raiders could not connect and had a poor shot selection when they ran their shot clock down. Then on defense Tech couldn’t slow down Kansas as KU dominated with offense. The score at halftime was 19-39.
- Turning Point | A couple of minutes into the game it was 6-5 in favor of Kansas. Naadir Tharpe nailed a three pointer then got a steal and layup plus one making the score jump out to 12-5. Kansas was off to the races after that took place.
- Team Observations | Crockett played 28 minutes in a game that was far out of reach. I would have thought with his tendonitis he would have been rested for more minutes in the game. I do not know the severity of his injury so maybe it doesn’t matter if he plays less or not, to help him get healthier. Or maybe in his last season of basketball he has asked the coaches to not hold him back from any playing time even with his injury.
After Kansas started to whip Tech in the first half you could get the feeling of desperation from our team. The look of disgust and embarrassment from our bench on the coaches faces said it all. I do credit Texas Tech for never giving up. About halfway through the second half after the game was at the point of no return we kept fighting and started to trade baskets with Kansas. They had already put it on cruise control, but we kept battling for buckets. This game could have easily been a 40 point blow-out loss had Tech folded and gave up. I’m sure the trip back to Lubbock for the team was a miserable one. I hope that there is only one thing on all the Red Raider minds to help shift their frustration and bitterness to one unified cause… BEAT UT ON SATURDAY! Wreck ‘em Tech!
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