There was plenty of intrigue and excitement leading up to Saturday’s Texas Tech Indoor Classic. The Red Raiders faced a ranked team for the first time in four years, and it wasn’t even the biggest match-up of the night. The atmosphere was electric thanks to a new court layout that featured three baskets on each end and a neutral-court decider between ranked opponents in the Big 12 conference play. Much like any other sporting event, analytics were involved when analyzing this game. Here are some interesting numbers from Saturday’s contest that you may have missed:
DeAndre Kane played 69 minutes
Kane played an impressive 69 minutes on Saturday night, scoring 19 points and grabbing nine rebounds. He only missed one shot, and it was in the first half. Kane seemed to get progressively more fatigued late in the game, and it was obvious. The senior appeared to be winded closing out the final few minutes. He played at a noticeably slower pace, and he never looked like he was close to 100 percent. Altogether, Kane made 59 percent of his shots, getting to the line 14 times for five made free throws. Kane has been a great player for the Red Raiders for nearly four years now, and he’s used this game to try and make the case that he should be the team’s go-to guy next season. It’s an interesting thought, as the Red Raiders lose a ton of experience with the departure of Keenan Evans and Jarvis Summers. However, they’ve got a ton of returning talent, and Kane is not the type of player who makes many teammates better. He’s one of the best players in the conference, but he should not be what the Red Raiders are built on.
The game took 2 hours and 27 minutes to complete
The Red Raiders and Longhorns played for 2 hours and 27 minutes on Saturday. In terms of game length, the Texas Tech-Texas game was the longest since the Baylor-Kansas game in December 2015. Kansas’s 67-60 win was the longest game since January 2015, when the West Virginia-Oklahoma State game finished with 2 hours, 21 minutes.
Texas Tech’s 82-78 win over Texas was the third-longest game of the season, trailing the 87-83 win by No. 11 Florida over LSU on Jan. 3 and the 76-73 win by No. 4 Duke over No. 20 UNC on Dec. 31.
The game featured a total of 31 lead changes and 14 ties. Texas Tech led for four minutes and 19 seconds of the game, and Texas led for four minutes and 12 seconds of the game. The Redrickses took the lead for the first time in the game at 2:32 in the first half, and the Longhorns took the lead for the first time in the game at 2:46 in the first half.
The game featured a total of 14 points scored by each team off of the last rebound of the game. The last rebound of the game for both teams occurred with 3:23 remaining in the game.
The game featured a total of six ties that were set up by free throws. Those ties included:
The game featured a total of eight lead changes that were set up by free throws. Those lead changes included:
Tech scored 81 percent of their points in the paint
Texas scored 77 percent of their points from the 3-point range
Texas Tech was in their zone for the majority of the game. Tech had the zone for 54:19 of action, while Texas had it for 47:26.
Texas Tech shot 12-of-25 (48 percent) from the 3-point range and 12-of-25 (48 percent) from the free-throw line.
Texas shot 6-of-12 (50 percent) from the 3-point range and 5-of-6 (83 percent) from the free-throw line.
The Red Raiders shot 88 percent from the left side of the court and 83 percent from the right side of the court.
Texas Tech was outscored on the glass by the Longhorns by two.
Texas Tech blocked four shots from Texas. To put that number in perspective, Texas blocked only two shots in the entire game.
Big 12 teams have struggled at the Indoor Classic this season
This trend of Texas Tech losing to Texas at the Indoor Classic will certainly come as a surprise to no one. However, this isn’t the first time that the conference has seen a struggle at the Indoor Classic. In 2016, the conference struggled mightily, as only one of the nine teams finished the season with a winning record. The teams that did not have winning records were Oklahoma and TCU, which was one of just three times that the Indoor Classic has featured two teams with losing records. Oklahoma and TCU, along with the Red Raiders, have played twice this season. Bottom line
This is not the first time that Texas Tech has lost to a ranked team at the Indoor Classic. In fact, the Red Raiders have lost to two ranked teams at the Indoor Classic this season. Texas AM beat No. 12 Nebraska, and Texas beat No. 17 Texas.
texas tech indoor classic
