DTN Daily Diatribe | Texas Tech News, Notes and Links | 2012-02-15

RED RAIDER BASKETBALL | Sigh. Another loss and only scoring 38 points for the game is troubling, but I suppose that it's not any more troubling than any other loss at this point in what has been a long season. Texas Tech lost to Texas A&M, 38-47 (box score | quotes). Head coach Billy Gillispie really only played 5 players, Robert Lewandowski, Jaye Crockett, Ty Nurse, Javarez Willis and Luke Adams, while Jordan Tolbert only played 8 minutes. If you wanted an indication as to who is going to be back next year, then look no further than that list of players. TAMU killed Texas Tech on the boards, 23-41, and Texas Tech shot only two free throws for the entire game, both misses by Adams. BCG takes the blame for this loss:

"Tough disappointing loss. We had some moments where we played really well, we didn’t play good enough for 40 minutes. They definitely started hitting some shots and playing better. When it got right down to it we weren’t tough enough in the lane to beat them."

LAJ's Nick Kosmider and DT's Chois Woodman have their game stories (Kosmider also has a notebook).

LADY RAIDER BASKETBALL | Don't forget that the Lady Raiders tip off at 7:00 pm and you can watch the game exclusively on the Longhorn Network. LAJ's David Just and DT's Chois Woodman preview the game the Lady Raiders could really use this game, but they haven't won in Austin since 2006 (from Just's article):

Austin has been anything but hospitable for the Lady Raiders in recent history, and Tech coach Kristy Curry owns an 0-5 record at the Frank Erwin Center. Tech hasn’t won at the Drum since 2006 — Marsha Sharp’s final season.

So what gives with the Austin slump?

"You know, that’s a great question," senior forward Jordan Barncastle said. "I have no idea. It’s not that there’s a brutal crowd. I don’t know. At some point it just gets a little mental. But we’re definitely ready to make a change and not repeat the last couple of years."

TEXAS TECH BASEBALL | DT's Brett Winegarner writes about DH's Scotty LeJeune's return to the diamond as he sat out all of last year with generalized anxiety disorder, but you know that LeJeune is back because the mustache is back (see link for photo). Here's LeJeune:

"At that time, I didn’t know exactly what was going on — sometimes I still don’t," he said. "It wasn’t even dealing with baseball. It was just a time in my life when I couldn’t control what I was doing. I had a lot of questions that had no answers. As much as I hated to say it, I really needed to step away from the game and just look at my life. That was the most important thing — baseball was a second issue."

And teammate CF Barrett Barnes:

"It’s awesome," Barnes said. "It’s a blessing. He overcame some very difficult situations and things like that, and overall as a team we’re just glad to have him back. He’s a big part of our lineup, he’s one of our family members, he’s a brother of mine and we’re just really happy he’s back with us this year."

TEXAS TECH FOOTBALL | LAJ's Don Williams talked with the two newest commits, DB Tavares Gardner and WR Devin Lauderdale, who also happen to be cousins. I'll have profiles on them a bit later.

Head coach Tommy Tuberville was on Galloway & Co., 103.3 ESPN in Dallas, and talked a bit about the schedule. The LAJ also had this article, and it was the only quote I could find from Tuberville on the release of yesterday's schedule:

"We are going to have the opportunity to host probably three top 10 teams at Jones AT&T Stadium, and I don’t think any other school in the country can say that," Tech coach Tommy Tuberville said. "With Texas, Oklahoma and West Virginia all coming to Jones AT&T Stadium, we couldn’t ask for a better home schedule. The Big 12 Conference is as challenging and difficult as it gets. Our coaches and players are excited for the challenges that this schedule presents, and we are ready to get back on the field for spring practice to begin our preparations."