Texas Tech Second-Round Exit Caps Breakthrough Season

by: S.Hilliard2 hours agoshelbychilliard

“What I can’t let happen is that these 11 ladies in our locker room is think about this loss instead of what they did for the season and for the program,” said Krista Gerlich following Texas Tech’s second round NCAA Tournament loss to LSU on Sunday.

We won’t let you forget either.

This group won 27 games — the most since 1998. They won 12 conference games — the most since 2005. They reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013 and won their first tournament game since 2005.

They beat Baylor for the first time since 2011 and swept the Lady Bears for the first time since 2005. They won at West Virginia for the first time since 2015. They stayed in the thick of the Big 12 race deep into the season and finished as the only team in the conference to go 4-0 against the league’s top three teams.

Yes, there were highs and lows along the way. And most certainly yes, the 101-47 loss to end the season Sunday is a painful bookend to what was a joyous revival of the program. It’s not what anyone wanted, and it’s not the standard this team knows it’s capable of.

“I don’t think that we were as physical as we needed to be at times,” said Gerlich honestly postgame. “We weren’t as tough as we needed to be. Even setting screens. We know that we’ve struggled all year trying to score the basketball at a high rate. And when we don’t have freedom of movement, when we can’t get past somebody off of a dribble we’re going to struggle a little bit. And the live ball turnovers, at halftime, we were down 18 and they had 19 points off live ball turnovers. The second half brought more of the same.”

Texas Tech found itself down 10-0 just four minutes into the game — a place no one wants to be, especially on the home floor of an LSU team that now owns the NCAA record for 100-point games in a season. Add in a sold-out crowd of more than 13,000, there to celebrate Flau’jae Johnson’s final home game, and the stage only got bigger.

They could have folded. Many teams have in that environment.

But true to their nature, Texas Tech did what it has done all season, it got off the floor and punched back.

Led by senior Bailey Maupin, the Lady Raiders closed the fourth quarter on a 14-9 run, with Maupin scoring 11 of her 19 points to close that quarter and keep Tech within five. You could see the frustration briefly creep in on the Tigers’ side, perhaps not expecting that kind of response.

LSU steadied itself, though as championship programs do, and kept swinging. A 24-11 second quarter pushed the Tigers ahead 43-25 at halftime, and the game never truly tilted back.

“They’re all super athletic,” Maupin said. “They play very good gaps. They slide underneath ball screens, and their main objective is to keep everybody in front. So that makes it difficult for any offense.”

Maupin, though, more than held her own. Early in the game, she traded step-back threes with future WNBA first-round pick Flau’jae Johnson and looked every bit like she belonged on that stage.

She finished with 19 points, four rebounds and three assists.

“The thing about Bailey is she’s just so incredibly tough — she’s a warrior,” Gerlich said. “She literally comes from the West Texas dirt. She doesn’t back down from anybody. I wish we could have given her more help, because that’s what she’s been doing for us for four years. But it was great to see the stage she can play on. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we hear her name called in the WNBA Draft.”

Her fellow captain, Denae Fritz, also showed she belonged. While she may not call it her best game as a Lady Raider, that arguably came on Friday night to get the team here, she embraced the moment — both offensively and in taking on a future pro in Mikayla Williams defensively.

More than any single performance, though, it was the standard set by Maupin and Fritz that made this turnaround possible.

“They upheld the standard. They held each other accountable,” Gerlich said. “When times got tough, they didn’t shy away from the moment or from failure. They owned it and tried to get better.”

Gerlich was quick to emphasize it wasn’t just those two.

“There’s a whole locker room full of them,” she said. “I’m not sad right now — I’m sad that it’s over. That group brought so much joy. We didn’t have drama, we didn’t have tension. We had kids who were excited to be there and played hard. They brought joy to our daily work and to this community.”

Setting the Standard for What’s Next

The way it ended isn’t how they wanted it. It hurts. It stings. But it doesn’t define them.

What this team did was lay the foundation for what comes next.

“I sure take a lot of pride in it,” Maupin said. “This is something we’ve been working on for years. We got the program back to where it deserves to be, and where it will continue to be. That’s an honor.”

Snudda Collins echoed that pride.

“It means a lot to me,” Collins said. “This isn’t how we wanted it to end, but I’ll always have my chin up and be proud of what we did this season.”

For Texas Tech to take the next step — from returning to relevance to competing for championships — Gerlich made it clear what’s needed.

“We have to have that investment to compete at that level,” she said. “There’s a big gap. You saw it today. We have to be able to fund our program in the NIL space and revenue share space to compete for championships.”

That next step starts now.

The offseason begins immediately. The transfer portal opens soon. The work doesn’t stop. And the message to future Lady Raiders is already clear, who better than Maupin herself to say it.

“The culture is set,” Maupin said. “If you don’t believe in what we’re doing and don’t have the same mindset, maybe you should choose a different program.”

Point. Period.

“Right on,” Collins added. “Just believe.”

Believe is what this team did even when people told them they were wasting their energy.

Picked to finish 13th out of 16th in the Big 12, they finished fourth and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Legacy secured.

Now we wait and see what’s next, soemthing Maupin has planned out already.

“Five years from now, I’m going to turn on the TV and see Texas Tech playing in the third round, the fourth round, the national championship game,” she said. “That’s what I’m going to remember.”

What will it take for this program to take that national championship jump? Gerlich was not shy about the investments needed and the disparity between the team they lost to on Sunday in that area.

“We have to have that investment to be able to compete at that level. There’s a big gap between probably one through eight, eight, maybe? … Maybe eight. And eight through 64. There’s a big gap. And I mean, you saw it today, right? We have to be able to. to fund our program in the NIL space and the rev share space to be able to compete at the level to win championships.”

More on that to come as the offseason begins officially tomorrow and the never ending loop of recruiting begins.