By Jeff Walker | A-J SPORTS EDITOR

TEXAS TECH/Red Raiders guard Okorie is regaining his form from beyond the arc

First appeared on redraiders.com: 11 p.m. Thursday.

Roberson

In the midst of dropping its eighth consecutive road game, fifth in the Big 12 Conference, the Texas Tech men’s basketball team might have found a silver lining for the second half of conference play.

Junior guard Nick Okorie, hampered by an ankle injury most of the season, regained his shooting touch in the Red Raiders’ 85-73 loss at Kansas State.

Okorie finished the game with a season-high 21 points. He was 5 of 9 from 3-point range, the first time this season the 6-foot-1 guard has made more than one 3-pointer in a conference game. He also set a new season-high for threes, surpassing his previous total of four in Tech’s season-opener against St. Francis (Pa.).

“That was good for him. He hasn’t been the same kid that we had at the start of the season because of the ankle injury,” Tech head coach Pat Knight said. “I’m hoping this gives him some confidence. That’s why I kept him in there. I could have taken him out, worrying about injuries, but he’s got to hit some shots. With this atmosphere and this crowd and against one of the best teams in our league right now, I thought this was good for him from a mental standpoint.”

Okorie

After leading South Plains College to the NJCAA national championship last season, Okorie got off to a strong start this year at Tech, scoring in double figures in each of the Red Raiders’ first four games.

He didn’t score as much in the next four games, and then he suffered an ankle injury during practice prior to the Dec. 13 game at Lamar. Okorie missed four games, then needed a couple more to get comfortable playing on an ankle that still isn’t completely healed.

Okorie scored 13 points apiece in back-to-back losses to Texas Christian and Baylor, but he made only one 3-pointer in each contest.

The Red Raiders’ main threats from beyond the arc are Alan Voskuil and John Roberson. Voskuil is tied with K-State’s Fred Brown for the Big 12 lead, hitting 45 percent (68 of 151) from beyond the arc. Roberson’s numbers are close, as the sophomore is hitting 39 percent (55 of 143) from 3-point range. Okorie is the next outside threat, but he’s only attempted 60 3-pointers, converting 20.

Tech could find itself in a situation like it was in against the Wildcats, where one or both of their top two threats are guarded heavily or shooting poorly. Roberson was just 1 of 9 against K-State and 1 of 6 from 3-point range.

Okorie needs to be another option. Most of his damage came late, as the Red Raiders closed the game on a 19-2 run. Knight said he’s looking for that effort throughout the game and not just when the margin of defeat is out of reach.

“Play with some pride,” Knight said of his halftime speech. “Can we win it? I don’t know, but cut into it. You can’t win it individually. … Just get good shots. I thought we competed in the second half. What frustrates me is why can’t we play that hard in the first half? I’m not saying we would have won the game, but we would have been in the game. It’s so hard when you put yourself in that kind of deficit.”

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