Ed. Note: I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year. We’ll see you next year!
Lady Raiders Fall to TCU. Eh, this totally stunk. Texas Tech was up for most of the first half, but TCU went on a huge run, 30-5 in the second half, to get a double-digit win over Texas Tech (recap). Japreece Dean scored 22 points on 8 of 19 and Leiashia Grant scored 21 on 8 of 13 from the floor to go along with 9 rebounds. The Lady Raiders received almost no production from their bench in this game, which is a bit odd as they’ve had some good production from them at times. The Lady Raiders shot 44% in the first half and 29% in the second half. Here’s head coach Candi Whitaker:
“I thought we played really well at times,” Texas Tech head coach Candi Whitaker said. “We got a pretty good lead and then missed a lot of easy shots around the rim. We weren’t able to convert and then fell apart in transition defense, and TCU was making layup after layup. I have to give TCU credit–they never went away, continued to run and unfortunately I feel like we really gave this one away. We had every opportunity to win this game, but had some breakdowns that can’t happen when you’re playing a great team.”
Top Five Plays Against Richmond. It’s Zach Smith’s world and we’re just living in it.
Webb to Transfer in the Summer. Via Bruce Feldman, Davis Webb will apparently stick around through the spring semester and arrive at a program during the summer:
BREAKING #TexasTech QB Davis Webb is transferring. Will visit schools this winter & enroll in summer. Eligible in 2016. Very talented QB.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 31, 2015
RELATED: Davis Webb Announces Transfer from Texas Tech
I know that this probably doesn’t need to be written, but this may be the most amicable situation that we’ve all known that was about to happen. Most everyone wishes Webb the very best and from reading the statements from Kliff Kingsbury and Kirby Hocutt, they both wish him the best.
Webb has one year left in his college career and he most likely wasn’t going to play that last season here at Texas Tech without Patrick Mahomes being injured. I realy do wish him the best. I’d also add that this leaves a bit of a hole for a back-up quarterback for Texas Tech, but it’s a long offseason, we’ll figure that out along the way. Mentioned in the link above, possible landing spots for Webb are California and Florida, but I bet he finds a terrific landing spot.
Five Questions. ESPN’s Max Olson asks five questions about Texas Tech’s offseason. Here’s question #2, but feel free to read the other four questions:
2. When is the defense going to get better? That’s been the question every offseason at Texas Tech since, what, 2011? The results were rough for their latest first-year defensive coordinator, David Gibbs, whose unit allowed 43.6 points and 280.5 rushing yards per game at a rate of nearly 7 yards per play. The defensive line will have to be rebuilt for next season, too. Gibbs’ arrival helped spark an impressive plus-15 swing in turnover margin this season. What kind of gains can this group make in his second year in Lubbock?
New Year’s Eve College Football Playoff Semifinals. Here we go. I hope you’re not going anywhere tonight.
- Sports On Earth’s Matt Brown and David Ubben take a look at both games so you sound like you know what you’re talking about when the games are on. Ubben also writes about how special Michigan State is as well as two blue-chip players for Alabama that are now role players. Matt Brown writes about how Clemson has risen to a national powerhouse and also about how Samaje Perine has adjusted to Oklahoma’s new system.
- The Student Section’s Terry P. Johnson has a ton of notes for tonight’s semifinal games.