By james art 
Usually moral victories are useless. However, Valiant’s Texas Tech’s efforts on Monday night against No. 4 Houston in Lyubbok felt meaningful.
Leaving two beginners in the accident of McMilian and Darion Williams, the red attackers pushed the cougars to the edge, which only passed three points in the last minute before falling 69-61. The defeat dropped to Red Raiders to 21-7 as a whole and 12-5 in the Big 12 Play and put an end to any weak hopes for the regular season of Big 12.
The struggle that the technology showed, although they missed their second and third leading goal scorers, two players, who combined to an average of about 30 points per game, were more than delightful. It was actually almost heroic.
Although he played only six players in the game, chief coach Grant McCallend saw his team be exceeded in Houston 40-33 and break Cougars 21-19 along the free throw line. However, two statistics turned out to be the cancellation of Red Raiders.
The most painful was the fearsome shooting of Tech from a 3-point range. Going only 6-30 (20%) in the evening beyond the rainbow, the red Raiders had his worst match of the season in this aspect of the game.
Part of this is due to the fantastic protection of the perimeter of Houston. Knowing that Red Raiders’ only hope will have enough insult to maintain the pace is to live in the 3-point shot, Cougars pressed technology into a number of deep, contested shots beyond the arc.
When Tech defeated Cougars in Houston on February 1, Tech was 12-30 (40%) of the city center in a disorder of 82-81. But without their best 3-point shooter, McMilian, Tech is fighting not only to make the 3-stories available, but even struggled to find a clean appearance.
The other statistics that turned out to be the difference in the game were the red Raiders, which lost the battle of the points in Paint 26-16. This was partly the result of not having Williams on the floor, a player who causes a lot of damage to the tape.
His deputy Federico Federico was decent by his standards, scoring four points and grabbed nine fights. However, he is far from the offensive threat that Williams was, and this allowed Houston to focus more on the double team and harassment of the leading tick scorer of the season, JT Toppin.
The sophomor entered the game by placing 22 or more points in three of his previous four games. However, he was only held at 14 points in a 6-18 shooting, as the rough defense in Houston threw his entire low sewer.
However, this game was a battle that was reduced to the last minute. Unfortunately, then Milos Uzan of Houston preserves a 3-indicator of the clutch to raise his team six with about 45 seconds to play. It was a Career Career in the evening that saw the transfer from Oklahoma 22 points.
In the end, this game decreases as a loss. However, given everything that technology was against, it is easy to swallow.
The fact is that TECH had twice walked on his toe with Houston and in both matches, Red Raiders had been missing at least one star player. However, TECH was 1-1 against the best team on the Big 12 this year and could be 2-0, there were several additional 3-indicators, they found the bottom of the net.
If nothing else, the game on Monday was an additional proof that Tech could play with any team in the country, even when there are two of its three best players. Hopefully the red attackers will return to full force for the rest of the season, starting Saturday in Lawrence, Kansas, because when this team has all its bullets to shoot, it is that no one in The country cannot take for granted.