Everything Aggie fans need to know about Texas Tech

on March 19, 2021 at 9:56 am

In just a few hours, Utah State will play in its second NCAA Tournament game in three seasons (should be three in three years, but you know, COVID-19). Last time out, the Aggies were upset by Washington in round one. It extended what is now a 19-season streak of failing to win in the Big Dance.

Texas Tech is the latest team standing in the Aggies’ way of a tournament win, so let’s break down the Red Raiders from the Lone Star State. For this article, I enlisted the help of Dan Swanberg from StalkingthePlains.com who covers Texas Tech. You can find him at @DanSwany on Twitter and you can also check out the article he put together where I answered some questions he had about Utah State.

Aggie connections to Texas Tech

There are several frivolous connections Utah State has to Texas Tech. The first and foremost among these is that former USU head football coach, Matt Wells, currently coaches the TTU football team. Similarly, former USU assistant women’s basketball coach, JC Carter, is now the associate head coach of TTU’s women’s basketball team.

A little less direct is that Matt Mooney, a member of Texas Tech’s 2019 Final Four team was coached by Utah State head coach Craig Smith when both were at South Dakota. Also related to TTU’s Final Four squad, USU guard Marco Anthony was a member of the Virginia team that Texas Tech lost to in the 2019 championship game.

Ranked Red Raiders

In every AP Top 25 poll this season, Texas Tech has been ranked. They topped out a seventh in the Feb. 8 poll but free-fell to 21st where they landed in what will be the final poll of the season. In the official ranking of NCAA Tournament teams, the Red Raiders were ranked 22nd among the field of 68, just ahead of BYU (23rd) and San Diego State (24th). Utah State was ranked 42nd among all teams.

Mac McClung

The transfer from Georgetown earned All-Big 12 honors this season as the lead man for Texas Tech. He averaged 15.7 points on 42.3 percent shooting, 33.3 percent from three. McClung thrives in the mid-range, taking 128 of his 331 field goal attempts as non-restricted area 2-pointers. He shot 43 percent on these attempts. But McClung will take shots from anywhere on the court and is “aggressive and confident” in his game according to Dan from StalkingthePlains.

“Mac is a player that believes he is the best on the court and will take on anyone driving the ball or popping up for a jump shot,” Dan said. “The part of his game that often is overlooked because of his scoring ability is his passing talent. He can find the open man better than anyone on the team and will sneak one by defenders when they collapse to defend him.”

In shooting a below-average 42 percent, McClung can be “hot and cold” as Dan describes. The highs range from the seven single-digit scoring games McClung had this year to the 10 20-point outings he put up. He’s been clutch in several games this year and many of his best scoring nights have been against the Red Raiders’ toughest opponents.

Small but stout defense

Only two players on Texas Tech’s roster have a height listed above 6-foot-7 — Vladislav Goldin (7-foot-1) and Joel Ntambwe (6-foot-8) — and they combined to play 88 minutes this season. The main frontcourt presence is Marcus Santos-Silva, a 6-foot-7 forward who is the leading rebounder (6.4) and shot-blocker (1.2). But the job Neemias Queta does mostly by himself for USU is done by committee for Texas Tech. Terrence Shannon and Kevin McCullar, both listed as 6-foot-6 guards, help in the rebounding department alongside Kyler Edwards.

Without the length some teams enjoy, the Red Raiders employ a “high motor and in your face at all times” style of defense.

“The secret is simple, get a piece of the ball or position yourself in front of the offensive player to create confusion and turnovers,” Dan said. “Texas Tech thrives on having a team turning the ball over or getting a shot clock violation. They will defend forcing their opponents to the baseline and smothering them. The team prides themselves on boxing out and doing the basic fundamentals to perfection.”

The Red Raiders are 25th in the nation in turnovers forced with opponents averaging just over 16 giveaways per game when facing Texas Tech. Things go very, very well for Texas Tech when they get these turnovers, notching an 8-3 record when forcing at least 16 turnovers (those three losses were to Baylor, Texas and Oklahoma State who are all ranked top 11 in the last AP poll).

Getting creative to guard Queta

On the subject of a shorter frontcourt, the prospect of guarding Neemias Queta with a group of guys that are all half a foot shorter is daunting for Texas Tech.

“The frontcourt has been a struggle in the past few seasons without any real bigs that get significant minutes,” Dan said. “The boxing out and turnovers help, and the only way we can really defend the opposing centers in getting the charge calls going in our favor. Frontcourt players usually have a more difficult time controlling their bodies, and Tech will sacrifice their small bodies to take a charge every single time they get the opportunity. Chris Beard is also known to shake up the lineup to get the right players on opponents, so don’t be surprised if you see many adjustments midgame until we figure out how to properly defend the frontcourt players we go up against.”

During TTU head coach Chris Beard’s press conference, he said the plan to guard Queta would be a “multi-layered plan” with “different people contributing to that plan”

Texas Tech hasn’t faced a center near the capability of Queta so whether or not they can slow down the very capable 7-footer will be a huge storyline for the game.

Shaky offense

Much like the Aggies, the Red Raiders struggle to produce an offensive attack worthy of their defensive prowess. It’s likely the only thing that keeps TTU from being a favorite to reach the Elite Eight or beyond. But don’t mistake them for being bad, they’re merely average, or slightly above average to be more accurate. They rank 122nd (out of 340 teams) in points per game at 73.0. According to Synergy Sports, they rank 106th in points scored per possession.

The thing that makes Texas Tech viable on offense is the sheer amount of free throws they take. They average 22.5 attempts at the charity stripe per game and make 16.0 of those on average. Those averages rank 24th and 17th in the nation, respectively. In games where they attempt at least 21 free throws, regardless of how well they shoot once they get to the line, the Red Raiders have a record of 15-2.