BY JEFF WALKER
A-J SPORTS EDITOR

Texas Tech trailed Gonzaga, 38-29, at halftime of an NCAA Tournament game during the 2004-05 season.

Something happened in the Red Raiders’ locker room that changed the game, but it didn’t come from the coaching staff.

“We heard a huge commotion and we go into the locker room and Ronald Ross has Devonne Giles by the jersey up against his locker telling him, ‘You’re not going to ruin my senior season by playing like a dog,’” Tech head coach Pat Knight said Monday. “Giles came out and got some points, some key rebounds in the second half and we were able to move on to the Sweet 16.

“We didn’t say anything. We didn’t do anything. There’s only so much you can do as coaches before the players start to tune out the same voices they keep hearing.”

Heading into Tuesday’s game with Colorado at United Spirit Arena, Tech is attempting to end a two-game slide to open Big 12 Conference play. More importantly, perhaps, the Red Raiders’ coaches are looking for something they feel has been missing since Ross led the team to the Sweet 16 — vocal leadership from a player.

Following Ross’ departure, then-head coach Bob Knight often expressed his desire to have a player become a vocal extension of the coaching staff. Jay Jackson and Martin Zeno were leaders because of their basketball talent, but neither (especially Jackson) lived up to the coaches’ expectations as vocal leaders.

Prior to this season, Pat Knight was looking for the same thing. With five seniors — Alan Voskuil, Rogdrick Craig, Michael Prince, Esmir Rizvic and Damir Suljagic — the team has plenty of players with experience in the program.

With none of them apparently stepping forward, Knight said he’d like one of his sophomores to become the voice of the team.

“I’d like it to be Mike Singletary,” Knight said. “He’s got the personality for it and the body. He’s a strong kid who also has a physical presence. Right now, though, he’s got to pick it up from a playing standpoint because if he tries to say something to the players now, they could be like, ‘Yeah, what have you done lately on the court?’”

Singletary’s play can be viewed as a microcosm of Tech’s team — inconsistent. The 6-foot-6, 230-pound forward scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds against Texas Christian, but only two points the following game against Baylor. Singletary had 10 points and seven rebounds in Saturday’s loss to No. 11 Texas, but many of his five offensive rebounds came after he missed layups — a problem he’s had for most of the season.

Singletary isn’t alone. Voskuil had a game in which he grabbed eight rebounds from his guard position, he’s had games in which he’s dished out five assists twice, and he’s scored 28 points in two different games this season, coming two shy of his career high. Voskuil, though, also went through a stretch when he didn’t score more than nine points in three out of four games. He’s also been one of many players who coaches have needed to play better defense.

John Roberson, Nick Okorie and Trevor Cook all fall into the same categories with the same inconsistencies as Singletary and Voskuil.

“I liked the personality of this team coming into this season,” Knight said. “One of the problems we’ve had, though, has been instead of guys stepping up and saying something, they get in their shells and get quiet. Once you step across that line in practice, you can’t be buddies with each other during practice. If you’ve got to punch a guy out, you punch him out. If you’ve got to block him out, block him out. When practice is over, you can go back and talk about it and be buddies.

“This is a problem we’ve had for three years and it’s something I address and talked about when recruiting, but we don’t get those kids until next season.”

Whether the Red Raiders get a voice or not, one team will come away from Tuesday’s game with its first Big 12 win of the season. The Buffaloes opened conference play with losses to Missouri and Kansas.

Head coach Jeff Bzdelik used an eight-man rotation against the Jayhawks, with a starting five that included two freshmen, one sophomore, one junior and a senior.

“Our game plan doesn’t change,” Bzdelik said. “We cannot turn the ball over, we’ve got to work to get good shots and finish plays, and we’ve got to get our butts back on defense. We haven’t been able to sustain that at all consistently throughout the course of the year, but part of that is because we’re so young.”

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