Texas Tech basketball proved it can be tough enough in road wins over Utah, BYU | Giese

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Grant McCasland installed the motto of “Toughest Team Wins” when he took over as Texas Tech basketball head coach. In his first year and a half at the helm, the Red Raiders have been inconsistent in holding themselves to that standard.

McCasland knows it’s sometimes a struggle to get that toughness, that edge out of his team. That was never more apparent than the Big 12 Conference opener against UCF. The Knights punked the Red Raiders on their home floor, and it presented a crossroads moment for Texas Tech.

On the horizon was a tough two-game road swing through the state of Utah, followed by a string of difficult matchups against some of the top teams in the conference. If the Red Raiders didn’t learn their lesson and get their act together, a once-promising season could’ve been lost before it really got started.

Saturday’s 93-65 thumping of Utah was a good start, but McCasland knew a trip to the Marriott Center in Provo, taking on a BYU team eerily similar to his Texas Tech squad, was going to be a more difficult challenge. To counter it, the Red Raiders changed their approach ahead of Tuesday’s game.

WHAT STOOD OUT?: Texas Tech basketball ices out BYU in 2nd half for big road win | Takeaways

“We usually don’t practice in these kind of environments in between that hard and I just felt like our team needs to have an edge by the way we compete,” McCasland said after the 72-67 win, “because we don’t have a ton of experience at the guard sports, specifically the point, and we don’t have experienced defenders on our team that are considered the best defenders.

“We practiced really hard last night for an hour and a half and our guys are embracing that. The first one at Utah, I thought was more about our build up to this, but this one, I felt like we kind of built as the game went on and I thought we got more competitive and tougher as it went on.”

Texas Tech’s Darrion Williams reacts to a made shot against DePaul during a Big 12-Big East Battle basketball game, Wednesday, Dec. 4,…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/texas-tech-basketball-proved-tough-101459411.html

Author : Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Publish date : 2025-01-08 10:14:00

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