Texas Tech Struggles with Short Rest

0:00On March 4, Texas Tech grabbed their 22nd win of the season, with a road upset over ranked Iowa State on Saturday. But just two days later, they fell to unranked TCU, 73-65. This marched the third time since late January that the Red Raiders beat a top 25 team, only to drop the next game to a lower ranked opponent. The pattern points to challenges with back-to-back games on short rest. Coach Graham McCaslin says his skilled squad struggles against physical play, which wears them down quickly. TCU showed that dominance outrebounding Texas Tech 39-25 and owning the paint with 38 points to the Raiders, 22. McCaslin admits the team needs to build more physicality to handle these grinds. He stresses their mix of basketball talent is solid, but turning around fast after tough match-ups takes a toll. Looking ahead, Texas Tech faces BYU on March 7 before a Big 12 tournament, buy into the quarterfinals on March 12. With possible semi-finals the next day and finals on the 14th, they'll need to master short rest for a deep run.

1:06At 22 and 8 overall, the Red Raiders are eyeing a 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. A strong conference tournament could boost that, and McCaslin remains confident they'll rise to the challenge in March.