Krista Gerlich’s Texas Tech women’s basketball team has already dealt with adversity, and the season hasn’t even started.
On Sept. 27, Gerlich told the media that senior point guard Jazion Jackson was out for the season, and then Oct. 17 at Big 12 Media Days, Gerlich revealed sophomore 6’5” center JoJo Nworie also suffered a season-ending injury.
Jackson is one of two transfers from UTEP for the Lady Raiders, and Nworie was the top junior college center in 2022 from the College of Southern Idaho. Nworie also missed last season due to injury, so having her gone two years in a row has to be difficult.
Even senior forward Jordyn Merritt wasn’t able to play in the Oct. 28 exhibition against Northern Arizona, although Gerlich said Friday she believes Merritt will be able to play Tuesday’s opener against UT-Rio Grande Valley.
Merritt’s injury sounds more like one that teams normally deal with; injuries are a part of sports, and it’s how teams deal with it that really matters.
Having two players you were going to rely on heavily go down before the season? That’s a whole different level.
Without those three players, they dropped the exhibition to Northern Arizona 63-58 after going down 18-8 in the first quarter.
Gerlich said Friday she wasn’t happy with how the exhibition went, but ultimately, she likes how they didn’t quit and fought back to make it a game.
It is better to lose now when it doesn’t count, and that’s something to remember.
Starting Tuesday at 6 p.m. against UT-Rio Grande Valley, Gerlich will kick off her fourth season leading her alma mater.
More athletic, longer, deeper team
Gerlich said even with Jackson and Nworie’s injuries, the Lady Raiders are deeper than they have been during her tenure.
A lineup with guards like Rhyle McKinney, Jasmine Shavers, Bailey Maupin, and a combo guard/forward in Kilah Freelon all on the floor at the same time isn’t hard to imagine at all. This team will probably see a lot of Shavers, Maupin, Merritt and Freelon along with either Elina Arike or Jazmaine Lewis at center in a lineup that might be a little different from what they imagined, but one they can have confidence with.
One thing she was proud of in the exhibition was how they were able to extend the defense in the full court and play faster. She said she was pleasantly surprised by their conditioning, and she knows this team can better match the athleticism in the Big 12 and even the athleticism of UTRGV on Tuesday.
That was always the vision with Jackson and Nworie in the fold, but their injuries have created a void that they have to fill.
Of course, an injury is an opportunity for someone else.
Versatility necessary
This team has some versatility with some players that might be considered guards playing not just in the frontcourt, but at the 4 at times.
We could talk about a lot of players here, but returning sophomores Freelon, Maupin and Shavers are some of those that will see minutes in a position that somebody has to fill for Texas Tech.
Of course, they understand it’s what they have to do because they saw it happen last year.
The Lady Raiders started Bryn Gerlich and Bre’Amber Scott at the 4 position last year, players that maybe wouldn’t traditionally play that spot as they also put 6’1” Katie Ferrell at center.
Those lineups helped push Tech to a 20-15 record and a WNIT berth in 2022-23, and Gerlich said the players understand the more positions they play, the more time they’re going to get.
Freelon is someone who obviously gets it and will probably be doing that a lot this season, especially after she got 17 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block in the Oct. 28 exhibition against Northern Arizona.
Even Shavers at 5’8” had minutes where she was playing at power forward, and Gerlich said that’s probably why she got nine rebounds, one shy of a double-double as she also added 13 points.
The newcomers seem to be buying in as well. Merritt will be one of those who will probably play the 3 in their best lineups, but she’ll definitely have minutes as a power forward. The Lady Raiders can still go big and put Arike or Lewis at center, even as they don’t have Nworie to hold it down like they thought they would.
Returning sophomores
Last year, the Lady Raiders had five seniors that Gerlich said could lead the younger players and help them understand what they needed to do.
“Now, those sophomores are having to do it, right,” Gerlich said, “and I love watching them grow into great leaders ‘cause they’re saying the right things, they’re trying to do the right things, and it’s going to pay dividends upon dividends by their junior and senior year, for sure.”
With Merritt out, Freelon had a huge exhibition as she stepped in for the senior Merritt in a lot of ways. Eight of those rebounds were on the offensive end as she played 37 minutes for the Lady Raiders.
Gerlich said it meant a lot to see Freelon do that because the 6’1” sophomore is so naturally gifted and she’s played a lot with Merritt this season. When they get on the court together, it should be a potent frontcourt duo.
Freelon already made strides last year and showed the impact she could have.
Over the first 14 games in 2022-23, she played just 5.9 minutes per game. Over the last 18 games, that went up to 17.1. This year, it’ll only be higher.
Shavers should only get more efficient, but it will be Maupin having to deal with the best defender on the court.
Maupin, a preseason All-Big 12 honorable mention selection, was held scoreless in the exhibition as she shot 0-for-9 over 29 minutes. She was scoreless three times last year, but she played a combined 20 minutes in those three games.
Gerlich said sophomore year is tough because they know you now, and Maupin will have to deal with that throughout the season.
“I thought that she really struggled in that exhibition game,” Gerlich said, “but I also thought that she was trying to carry us and probably trying a little too hard…I think she really learned a valuable lesson in that exhibition game that she can’t necessarily score every time the ball touches her hands; she’s going to have to help others score and be a little bit more patient with her game.”
Gerlich calls for Red Raider/Lady Raider Nation
The Lady Raiders had an average of 4,923 people per game last season, almost breaking 5,000 for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
When Gerlich played, she said Lubbock Municipal Coliseum was a tough place to play. When current associate coach Plenette Pierson played at Tech from 1999-2003, the average attendance at the newly built United Supermarkets Arena (then the United Spirit Arena) was over 12,000.
As the Lady Raiders had trouble with consistent success since Marsha Sharp retired in 2006, the attendance declined. Gerlich has been on a “rant and rampage” to get the USA packed because one day, she wants people to say in press conferences that it’s one of the toughest home environments in the country where they play in front of huge crowds every night.
Gerlich gave the example of Iowa State’s Hilton Coliseum, the place she said is the toughest in the Big 12 right now. When Tech has managed to play them close in the first half, Gerlich said their crowd turns it up.
Excluding the 2020-21 COVID season, Iowa State’s average crowd hasn’t been below 9,000 since 2006-07, and it was 10,323 in 2022-23.
This Texas Tech team might not be exactly what they want to be this year with the injuries, and they’re very young. It also means they won’t lose much next year, and this team can continue to build Gerlich’s vision that she’s been putting in place since 2020.
“This team is going to be special, they’re going to paly really hard for the name on the front of their jersey, and we need [fans’] help to create a really hostile environment for our opponents.”
Don’t get caught sleeping.
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