He was a part of the Texas Tech team that made it to the NCAA Championship game last month, the one that pushed Virginia to overtime before succumbing to the more talent-filled bunch. Even more than the Cavaliers, the Red Raiders relied on a physical, tough defense to survive and advance through the tournament: Texas Tech led the country in the 2018-19 season with an 81.2 adjusted defensive rating. It wasn’t quite enough against the No. 4 defensively-ranked Cavaliers, who also were much better offensively.
If that sounds familiar, it should. That’s essentially the story of the Utah Jazz of recent seasons: elite league-best defense that wasn’t enough to balance out an only average offense against the country’s best teams.