Texas Tech Limps to Victory As Early Shooting Concerns Continue

LUBBOCK -- Texas Tech was led by Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn’s 25 points, Bethune-Cookman Wildcats got a boost from Connor Teasley with 11 and the Red Raiders pulled away for a 76-58 on Thursday night.

No. 19-ranked Texas Tech improves to 2-0 with a massive home contest against No. 3 Illinois on the docket next at United Supermarkets Arena.

In the first half, the defense continued to come through for Tech, forcing 12 Wildcat turnovers. Tech turned those into eight points, leading in blocks, forced turnovers, and steals. 

Unfortunately for Texas Tech, there are two sides to the game of basketball.

The Red Raiders made 12 shots, going 40 percent from the floor in the first half. This includes a 3-for-15 mark from three-point range. 

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For the four players that shot north of 40 percent from three last season, they shot 3-for-14 combined. This includes Donovan Atwell, who up until the second half against Bethune-Cookman started the season 0-for-9.

Despite this, the Red Raiders built a comfortable lead, going up by as many as 17. 

The Wildcats found some offense down the stretch, including a buzzer-beating three to make it 37-24 going into halftime.

The slug continued to rear its ugly head in the second half.

The Texas Tech lead got down to as low as eight midway through the half, with the Red Raiders continuing the cold streak. Bethune-Cookman went on their best scoring run of the game during that stretch, scoring six straight.

Midway through the half, Atwell finally knocked down his first three-pointer of the season. He would make two more, finishing the night going 3-for-10.

With Atwell finding the stroke and Gibbs-Lawhorn ending with a game-high 23, Texas Tech was able to keep Bethune-Cookman at bay and ultimately pull away by the end of the second half.

The story of the game wasn't scoring however. It was the fouls.

Both teams combined for 51 personal fouls in the game, with four players finishing with at least four fouls.

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Texas Tech entered the bonus before the midway point of the second half; however, they struggled from the line overall, going 19-for-31.

In their defense, Bethune-Cookman wasn't much better, going 19-for-32.

Both bigs for the Red Raiders (Bassala Bagayoko and Josiah Moseley) finished the night with four fouls.

For Texas Tech, figuring out how to defend without fouling down low will be something to watch, especially with a taller team in the Fighting Illini coming to town on Nov. 10.