Texas Tech men’s basketball is 0-4 in the Big 12 for the first time since January 2015 after they lost to the No. 19 Iowa State Cyclones 84-50 Tuesday at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
In the 2014-15 season, the Red Raiders went on to start 0-6 in Big 12 play and finish 3-15 in the conference. They have won at least half of their Big 12 games in each subsequent season except for 2016-17.
The 34-point loss is the biggest under Tech head coach Mark Adams. Adams said they didn’t match Iowa State’s intensity, but after the game, he said the loss is a good thing for the team.
“We’ve been kind of waddling around in mediocrity for a while and playing these close games, and this is a wake-up call,” Adams said, “so this team’s going to get a whole lot better, and I think this is the best medicine we could have.”
As the Red Raiders drop to 0-4 in the Big 12 and 10-6 overall, the Cyclones improve to 4-0 in the Big 12 with a 13-2 overall record.
Gabe Kalscheur was unstoppable for the Cyclones as he scored 25 points on 10-for-14 shooting. He shot 5-for-6 from the three-point line.
De’Vion Harmon had some good offense in spurts for Tech as he scored 14 points and had four assists, but the Tech offense struggled to find their shot all night and turned the ball over 19 times.
Pop Isaacs had 10 points for Tech in his return from concussion protocol, but he shot 1-for-9 from the three-point line as he and the Red Raiders couldn’t find their shot.
Daniel Batcho started for Tech after missing the Oklahoma game because of a dislocated finger. KJ Allen, who had some good games off the bench for Tech, has been out the last two games with a lower leg injury, according to head coach Mark Adams after the Oklahoma game.
Adams said Isaacs and Batcho played hard, but they were not able to practice until Tuesday before the game started.
He also said center Fardaws Aimaq, the senior transfer from Utah Valley, should be back within the next few games and maybe sooner. Aimaq has been out with a foot injury that he got before the season.
“We got some reinforcements coming,” Adams said, “but at the same time, there’s just an attitude [and] mentality that we had last year, this toughness and this physicality and this aggressiveness that we played with this past year and years before that that this team hasn’t embraced yet.”
Adams then said he had a lot of respect for Iowa State, a team he said plays a lot like last year’s Tech team.
At first, Iowa State didn’t take full advantage of Tech committing six turnovers in less than five minutes. Once Kalscheur made the first three-pointer for Iowa State, however, it felt like it never stopped.
The Cyclones got going and took advantage of more turnovers from Texas Tech as they finished the first half on an 11-0 run and a last-second three-pointer from Kalscheur to go up 39-20.
The second half was similar to the first half as Texas Tech seemed to find something to keep it close, with Obanor and Harmon cutting the Iowa State lead to 15 at two different points.
Then, a three-minute, 12-0 run led by nine points from Kalscheur all but sealed it for the Cyclones as they went up 62-35 and continued to pile it on in the blowout.
Even late, Iowa State continued to stop the Tech offense, holding the Red Raiders to five points in the last 6:15.
Iowa State’s three-point shooting (12-for-22) was so impressive and Tech turned the ball over so many times that the Cyclones didn’t have to worry about how they shot 4-for-10 from the free-throw line.
Texas Tech shot under 40% in both halves and shot 5-for-26 from the three-point line. The Red Raiders are a combined 7-for-44 from behind the arc in their last two games.
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Texas Tech will have to shake this one off, to say the least.
When asked about when patience turns into urgency, Adams smiled but said the team is in urgency mode.
“We’ve got to make some major changes and mainly just in effort and attitude and toughness,” Adams said, “and I’ve been in this many, many times as a head coach, and it takes a lot of effort and work to get it turned around, but we can do that, and we will do that.”
The Red Raiders will play No. 10 Texas Saturday at 7 p.m. in Austin. They’ll next play at home against Baylor on Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. in the first home game after Tech classes start.
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