Tech is swept by WVU at the hands of a messy game in Lubbock

Well after watching a game like last night, I know that nobody who considers themselves a Texas Tech fan was happy with the way that match up ended. In a contest where 47 fouls, yes 47, were called throughout the game, Texas Tech could just never get over the hump. We would find ourselves crawling close to taking a lead, then West Virginia would go down and hit a shot with the defender right in his face. It was that kind of night for us defensively.

The Mountaineers killed us in both games this year on the offensive end. In two games, they combined to score 169 points, shoot 19/33 from 3 point range as a team, and had nine instances of a player posting double digits in a game. With a team like Tech that considers themselves a defensive ball club, that is not something you want to be allowing to any team, period.

Mac McClung led the way with 17 points on the night, but in my opinion it was one of his worst games so far this season. There were times it was obvious that he was dribbling way too much and not sharing the ball enough. While he is the best player on the team to go and get us a 1v1 bucket, there are times when forcing it is worse than passing it around and getting a better shot.

With that said, he still is our best offensive player and he definitely made some big plays to keep us in the game. In no way do I think he lost us the game, but the stretch at the end where he had those two fouls all but wrapped up the contest. TJ Shannon chipped in 13 off of the bench, but he also had a poor night only shooting 3-14 from the field. Though I will say, two of those three shots he made were huge by way of a late 3 pointer and a massive putback jam over Derek Culver.

Quite possibly the highlight of the night was Chris Beard losing his mind after a questionable call that was made late in the 2nd half. There were quite a few head scratchers that the zebras made throughout the game going both ways, so I believe the last one just sent Beard over the edge. It was all over social media, with people praising his willingness to back up his team with his fiery outburst aimed at the officiating crew.

With the season series now over with West Virginia, the Red Raiders are now shifting their attention to the tough stretch that lies ahead. Saturday’s game at Baylor being postponed will help in terms of rest, but it may end up making the back end of the schedule harder if it is rescheduled.

Starting next Monday with a matchup against TCU, the team will play 4 games in the span of a week, with 3 of them being on the road. With the Red Raiders now at 6-5 in conference, it will be huge that they play well in that brutal stretch. It is very possible for us to win all 4 of those games, it is just a matter of the guys going out and executing.