To say the Texas Tech basketball team is settling in for the 2024-25 season would be an understatement. That continued Monday night when the Red Raiders defeated Arkansas Pine Bluff 98-64 in Lubbock in the final game of a four-game homestand to open the season.
The Red Raiders played against the Golden Lions’ zone defense throughout the game and fell a little behind, especially from the 3-point range. But the game was never in doubt as Tech jumped out to a 47-28 lead at halftime and stayed on track the rest of the way. Here are some observations from what we saw during the Red Raiders’ final training session before Thursday’s matchup against a tough St. Joseph’s team in Brooklyn, New York.
For the first time this season, Tech played a team that played a zone defense the entire game. It seemed like it took the Red Raiders a while to adjust to it, but eventually the home team figured out how to attack the zone.
Point guard Elijah Hawkins, making his first start as a Red Raider, recorded an unconventional double-double with 11 assists and 10 points. Most of his assists came when he entered the middle of the UAPB zone and found teammates in the paint for easy buckets. That’s the kind of impact expected from the senior transfer from Minnesota, who led the nation in assists per game a season ago.
Meanwhile, the Red Raiders were able to make 3-point shots against the zone as the game progressed. They made 14 of 35 shots (40%) from deep, coming just two shy of tying the school’s single-game record in the season opener.
It was easy to see why UAPB played zone against Tech. The team didn’t want tech forward JT Toppin to step in, so he was held to a modest day with 14 points and 11 rebounds on 7-10 shooting.
However, given how many good outside shooters the Red Raiders have on their roster, it seems unlikely that many teams will use a zone defense that often against Tech. Still, it was good for coach Grant McCasland’s team to do enough work against the zone on Monday night. That way, when we see the zone later this year, we’ll be ready to attack.
It’s clear this team can play an elite offense. Tech has scored at least 86 points in every game this year and has scored in the 90s in three of its four games this year.
However, it remains to be seen whether the Red Raiders will commit to playing defense at a championship level. That wasn’t the case on Monday night.
As a team, UAPB shot 52.1% from the floor. The Golden Lions often created easy offense with back cuts to the basket, which seemed to catch Red Raider defenders off guard. Tech also gave up points far too often on straight drives to the basket, which has been an issue for the Red Raiders through four games.
What the Red Raiders did well again was their forced turnovers. UAPB stole the ball 23 times in the game, while Tech had 12 steals, five of which came from Hawkins, who has proven to be a nuisance when defending the basketball.
Still, the Red Raiders will need to play better all-around defense to beat better teams. Maybe this team’s defensive failures were a result of looking forward to this week’s trip to New York and neglecting UAPB, or maybe this team still hasn’t figured out how to play the type of defense McCasland wants. Maybe he’s learning. But whatever the reason, the Red Raiders need to improve that aspect of their game.
In this game, Red Raiders backup forward Federico Federico missed the first game of the season due to a lower body injury. And the Red Raiders’ squad is smaller because sophomore forward Eimeli Yaraho has not played yet this season due to an injury of his own.
Winger Devan Cambridge had to play as the team’s big man while Toppin was off the field. The 6-foot-6 senior can fill that role against a team like UAPB. He finished the game with 10 points and 5 rebounds in 15 minutes.
But they will need Federico to play against better teams. As Tech’s only player taller than 6-foot-9, he has a key role playing off the bench, and his status for Thursday and Friday’s games in Brooklyn will be worth watching.
