Nick KrugIt might not have mattered who Texas Tech coach Tubby Smith put on the floor to bear the brunt of Saturday’s 86-54 loss to the No. 12-ranked Kansas University men’s basketball team at Allen Fieldhouse.
But Smith sure seemed displeased with the players he chose.
Despite trailing the Jayhawks (13-2 overall, 2-0 Big 12) by 17 at halftime in a game that appeared to be well on its way to becoming another KU drubbing, Smith said he was at least encouraged by the way his team fought and competed and executed during the game’s first 20 minutes.
After that, however, the Red Raiders’ guns starting shooting blanks and KU’s lead quickly ballooned to 30 — 63-33 at 11:45 on a dunk by Cliff Alexander — and the rout was on.
“I guess it was a poor locker room talk,” Smith said with somewhat of a shrug. “We just didn’t show up.”
The veteran Texas Tech coach’s disdain for his team’s effort to open the second half did not stop there. Asked if he tweaked anything in the second half to make life easier or open things up on offense, Smith again referenced the slow start to the second half in which Kansas went on an 11-0 run in the first four minutes.
“Yeah, we made some adjustments,” Smith said. “I told the (starting five) not to show up. Maybe they should’ve gone to the bus, that first group that was out there.”
Although Smith clearly was displeased by the way his team played in the second half, it likely came as little surprise. Historically, the Red Raiders (10-6, 0-3) never have fared well in Lawrence, and they entered Saturday staring at an average margin of defeat of 28.5 points in 14 previous tries at Allen Fieldhouse. That number went up to 28.7 after Saturday’s 32-point KU victory, which, believe it or not, was only the seventh largest KU home victory over the Red Raiders. The biggest was a 109-51 victory on March 3, 2008.
“We’ve played against talented players before,” said freshman forward Zach Smith, a starter who scored eight points and grabbed three rebounds in a team-best 28 minutes. “But, for whatever reason, we just couldn’t execute or match (their intensity) today.”
Before his two-minute postgame meeting with the media wrapped, Smith pointed to KU’s length, athleticism and “sheer physical size” along with the poor field-goal percentage of the Texas Tech guards as big reasons Saturday’s game turned out like so many others before it. TTU’s Toddrick Gotcher, Devaughntah Williams and Keene Evans combined to make just one of 15 shot attempts against Kansas.
“When they shoot like this, it’s gonna be a long day,” Smith said.
