Texas Tech Red Raiders 60, TCU Horned Frogs 49 | Game Analysis

Two conference games in a row. How about that. This was a rough and tough game, not easy on the eyes. Lots of fouls and lots of bad shooting by both teams. Texas Tech showed that they are capable of winning a game where they have to shoot well and a game where both teams completely grind it out defensively. Texas Tech scratched and clawed their way to a road victory and that’s something that doesn’t happen all that often for the Red Raiders. Granted, beating TCU isn’t something to brag about to your friends (the same could be said for Texas Tech), but Texas Tech is winning these types of games and that’s a good thing.

You want to see something freaky? Go check out KenPom’s standings where you can see Texas Tech right behind Indiana. Yeah, the Hoosiers. I don’t think Texas Tech has been rated this highly in the KenPom ratings during the season that I can really ever remember. High five.

And one more bit because I really don't have a place to put this, but Jaye Crockett''s dunks over the last two games have been nothing short of spectacular.  The one from yesterday is embedded below.

Star of the Game | C Dejan Kravic: Another pretty good game for Kravic, who had a double-double grabbing 10 rebounds, scoring 12 points and filling out the statsheet with 1 assist, 3 turnovers, 5 blocks and a steal.

Three Takeaways:

1. Dominated the Boards and Defense: I used the same title here for the game analysis against Baylor and I get to do it again. TCU shot 20.4% from the floor for the entire game. This is not a typo. TCU is a pretty bad offensive team, but that’s not all bad shooting. Some of that is Texas Tech clamping down defensively. I’d also add that Texas Tech held a 12 board advantage against TCU, out-rebounding the Frogs 41 to 29. Playing terrific defense and out-rebounding opponents is going to go a long ways towards notching a few more conference wins.

2. Early Lead Slips Away: Texas Tech really should have run away with this game, especially in the first half when it looked like TCU couldn’t hit a bucket. But TCU clawed back as best they could and the game was close for a good part of the game, very much a back and forth affair. But for me as I’m watching the game, it never really appeared that Texas Tech was rattled or discouraged. TCU isn’t exactly a place where it is easy to get rattled, but Texas Tech stuck with it and forced TCU into even a worse second half shooting percentage than in the first half. The end result was an 11 point win, on the road, in January. High five.

3. Free Throws: Texas Tech shot 77% from the line, which is really good. Both teams shot 31 free throws for the game, while TCU made an astounding 83% for the game. Statistically, TCU did shoot more free throws than Texas Tech coming into the game and they were incredibly relentless in that respect. But so was Texas Tech. Shooting 31 free throws isn’t a mistake and that’s a good thing for the Red Raiders. Taking the fight to the opponent. It should also be noted that Texas Tech dominated inside, out-scoring TCU 30-19 in the paint. A credit to Kravic and some of the other guys that battled inside. Also, I think we should get some credit to Robert Turner, who scored 12 on 7 shots, and Hannahs, who scored 13 on just 4 shots, making all 7 of his free throw attempts.

Charts: Thanks to the good folks at StatSheet.

Action: