The Texas Tech Red Raiders lost to the Boston College Eagles, 85-74. The game kinda played out like I expected, BC would be strong inside and Tech would be able to score, but I never figured all the layups all of the rebounds and I thought Jackson would show up, at least a little bit. Let's get to the DTN box score:
| Player | Min. | Reb. | Ast. | Pts. | Comment |
| J. Plefka | 24 | 3 | 0 | 8 | Did not make a difference in the outcome of the game, was not good or bad. |
| D. Dora | 22 | 4 | 4 | 5 | Made too many defensive mistakes. |
| M. Zeno | 40 | 3 | 2 | 21 | Was active offensively, without a doubt Tech's player of the game. |
| J. Jackson | 40 | 3 | 1 | 10 | Scored his last Tech basket with 13:00 left in the 2nd half. |
| C. Burgess | 35 | 3 | 2 | 12 | Does anyone else feel like Charlie should do more? |
| D. White | 13 | 0 | 0 | 7 | Is showing a complete game. |
| A. Voskuil | 21 | 3 | 0 | 12 | Was incredibly effective, wish we saw this all year. |
| M. Prince | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | Minimal minutes. |
What Tech Did Right (There weren't many, but we'll go through them):
- Zeno Was Outstanding: I've joked before about siring Zeno's children, but I really would. He'd be a great dad to our children and I would pray every night that they get his athletic ability. Seriously, that guy is amazing, his creativity around the basket is a pleasure to watch and we as Tech fans are so lucky to have him around next year. Pay close attention to his play next year, we are watching one of the more gifted players to ever play at Tech, especially if he works on his 3 point shot.
- Offense Was Efficient: There have been many times throughout the year that the offense was just stagnant, but I thought that today, the offense was really good. Boston College had trouble guarding whatever Tech was doing. The main culprits were Zeno and Burgess (more on him later), but consider that Tech scored 75 with Jackson contributing only 10 points. There will be some rebuilding to do on this team, but that can be discussed later in the summer.
- Voskuil Contributed: I don't think I've ever made it a secret that I really like Alan's game. I've always wanted him to shoot a little more, be more creative offensively, but it seemed like he deferred to the older players all year. Part of that is frustrating, but part of me understands that he gets it. Alan was over matched defensively, but that was more of a matter of BC having a much bigger lineup and Knight not wanting to play the matchup game.
What Tech Did Wrong:
- Defense Was Pitiful: I cannot recall a game where there were more layups. The flex offense (we ran this my junior year of high school and we were not quite as successful) was apparently something the Red Raiders have never had to guard. It was incredibly difficult to watch as almost every player shot layups in the 2nd half. Tech tried switching and that didn't seem to work and when they did switch, well, that's when the layups really got going.
- Rebounding Was Non-Existent: We've talked about this all year, and it was somewhat fitting that the biggest problem was the lack of rebounding. It wasn't just the lack of rebounding, it was the utter lack of destruction on the boards. BC out rebounded Tech by 13. That ridiculous and it all starts with Tech's frontcourt, Plefka played 24 minutes and lucked into 3 boards, Dora played 22 minutes and managed a whopping 4 boards. Suljagic didn't see a minute, despite the fact that it might not have been a bad idea to play him at some point during the game. I'm glad this chapter of Tech deficiencies is over and done with.
- Burgess Needs To Do More: This is probably going to sound a little petty considering Charlie scored 12 points today, but does anyone else get the feeling that Burgess needs to contribute more? He doesn't turn the ball over, which is great, but whenever I watch him play I really want him to do more. I want him to be the type of point guard that can drive and dish, create off the dribble and most importantly lead the break. Whenever Burgess does push the ball, there's no positive effect, he's really just pushing the ball to get up the court quicker, but there's nothing created. I don't know if I'm doing a decent job of explaining what I mean by all of this and I'm sure I'll dig a little deeper in the offseason.
- Jackson's Curtain Call: This was Jackson's final game as a Red Raiders and he finished the day by going 4-14 from the floor and contributing almost nothing in the 2nd half. As I noted above, he scored his last point for Tech with about 13:00 minutes left in the game. I really wanted Jackson to grow up here, demand the ball, demand the spotlight, but that never happened. I guess that's what Knight's been talking about all year. In order to be a great player, you have to demand so much from your teammates and Jackson has never done this. I would imagine that when asked to comment about Jackson's career, he's going to say that Jay was a tremendous scorer, who improved leaps and bounds defensively, but he wasn't a great player, not even close.
Finally, did anyone think it was a little much that all of the BC players wore headbands? Let me preface this by saying I know they just beat Tech, I realize that, but the thought being, when a bunch of guys make a collective fashion decision, well, you know, is that kinda gay? Example, if I call my buddy and tell him that we need to be wearing matching adidas jumpsuits, that makes us kinda gay (I've never done that, I swear).