Next men up: Texas Tech men's basketball team looking for bench players to seize roles
Texas Tech still has more than three weeks until its first Big 12 men's basketball game, but by the time they get there the Red Raiders want to have defined roles for their personnel.
That process continues when Tech (5-2) hosts Nicholls State (3-4) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at United Supermarkets Arena.
In Tech's two most recent games, an 80-73 loss on Nov. 23 against Ohio State and a 79-65 victory on Nov. 30 against Georgetown, only one Red Raiders bench player played more than nine minutes — Elijah Fisher with 17 minutes against the Buckeyes and D'Maurian Williams with 16 minutes against the Hoyas.
"We've gotten pretty well set on our five starters," Tech coach Mark Adams said Monday, "so we're trying to find that sixth, seventh and eighth man. We're just playing those guys (based on), who's playing well, who's had good practices. Certainly, that's an area that we've got to get defined moving forward, to find those first two or three off the bench."
Adams has used the same starting lineup through all seven games: Center Daniel Batcho, forward Kevin Obanor, swingman Jaylon Tyson and guards Pop Isaacs and De'Vion Harmon. Outside of the starting five, Williams' 4.5 points per game and K.J. Allen's 2.3 rebounds per game are the highest averages among the reserves.
Williams, the 6-foot-3 transfer from Gardner-Webb, had six points, one rebound and one steal in his 16 minutes against Georgetown.
"We've given D'Maurian a chance," Adams said. "I thought he did well in our last game. He'll get a lot of minutes, but I expect all of our guys to be playing some, and we have confidence in every one of them. Each one of them has some strengths that others don't have, and they can all contribute. So it's just who's playing well at the time."
Kerwin Walton, the 6-5 junior transfer from North Carolina, has gone scoreless over his past four games, shooting 0 for 5 from the field in a stretch covering 35 minutes. That's unlike Walton, who made 81 3-point goals in 60 games for the Tar Heels, averaging 5.7 points per game.
"Kerwin works as hard as anybody," Adams said. "Even away from practice, he's in the gym just shooting all the time. Everybody on our team has confidence in him and knows he can shoot the 3-ball, maybe more so than he does, so we keep reminding him, 'Keep shooting, keep shooting,' and it's all going to fall into place. He's maybe pressing a little bit too hard.
"But certainly, it's something we remind him of, a lot like J.T. (Tyson). They're two of our best shooters, so do what they do best and shoot the basketball."
Adams said heralded transfer Fardaws Aimaq is expected to get the cast off his injured foot within the next week. The 6-11 transfer from Utah Valley suffered the injury before the season. He was the Western Athletic Conference defensive player of the year and first-team all-WAC each of the past two seasons and the WAC player of the year in 2021.
"He's working every day in rehab, just with cardio and maybe some stimulation as well," Adams said. "But he's in the gym shooting. It's tough to shoot on one foot, but he's in there's getting up a lot of reps, so we're just really proud of his effort and his leadership (while) not being able to be in uniform.
"But he's a very valuable part of our team, and I certainly look forward to getting the opportunity to coach him soon."
Adams has targeted the beginning of Big 12 play as a projected return time for Aimaq. The New Year's Eve conference opener at TCU, Tech announced Tuesday, will tip off at 11 a.m.
Tech has four players with double-digit scoring averages: Obanor (13.1 points per game), Batcho (12.9 ppg), Harmon (11.1 ppg) and Tyson (10.4 ppg). Batcho and Obanor average 8.1 and 5.6 rebounds, respectively, and Harmon has a team-high 3.6 assists average.
Nicholls State went 21-12 last season, 11-3 in the Southland Conference and lost to SMU in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament. The Colonels, in their two most recent games, beat San Diego 72-70 on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas, Nevada and beat Champion Christian 115-50 on Nov. 29 at home.
Nicholls State's top producers are 6-5 senior Latrell Jones (15.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg), 6-foot junior Micah Thomas (13.7 ppg, 3.4 apg), 6-4 senior Caleb Huffman (12.0 ppg, 5.1 rpg) and 6-7 senior Marek Nelson (9.3 ppg).
College basketball
Who: Nicholls State at Texas Tech
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: United Supermarkets Arena
Records: Nicholls State 3-4, Texas Tech 5-2
Online streaming: ESPN+
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech men's basketball looking for bench players to seize roles
