 "Photo: File photo")
Before TCU handed Texas Tech its first home loss of the season Wednesday, forward Mike Singletary admitted the Red Raiders have lost focus too often.
"We just need to take every game and not look ahead," he said. "I think that we've been doing that lately. I think that once the Big 12 comes into play, I think we'll be ready. I think we're all kind of ready for Big 12 to start, but we do know that we do have to get the (TCU) game."
There is some good news and some bad news based on Singletary's comments.
The good news is Tech will not have to look ahead to the Big 12 Conference schedule anymore with Tech opening league play against Baylor at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in Waco.
The bad news was Tech still struggled to slow down TCU, losing 85-80. It was the fourth loss in seven games after starting the season 7-1.
So expect the learning curve to get sharper here in the next few weeks.
"Our goal is we wanna be a better (conference) team than last year," said Singletary, who scored 22 points against TCU. "We felt like there were a lot of games in there last year that we should've won. We just didn't have the leadership or anything to win those games. We feel like we have that this year.
"We really think we should be in the upper half of the Big 12 this year. We know that if we don't figure out these problems it's gonna be a tough run."
Tech coach Pat Knight, who after a 111-66 loss to Stanford owns the three-worst losses in school history, said the defense looks better in practice than in games.
"This is not North Carolina," he said. "We're gonna have ups and downs because the kids we're getting in here, but it's getting better."
Hopefully for Knight, the injuries to Trevor Cook, Michael Prince and Nick Okorie won't linger the rest of the way.
Okorie returned from an ankle sprain during the Stanford game but has not looked 100 percent since. Against TCU though, he showed glimpses of the athleticism that proved difficult to contain earlier this season with 13 points despite going 4-of-12 from the field.
After missing six games with a foot injury, Prince looked fresh during his 14 minutes against TCU, and Knight said it was refreshing to see the senior's high energy level.
Knight said he is unsure when Cook, who has not played since the Stanford game, and Damir Suljagic will return. Both are suffering from back injuries.
"They're never gonna be 100 percent until after the season," Knight said of his injured players. "To be 100 percent you gotta take off a couple months and they just can't afford to do that. We're a little banged up and so is everybody else. If you look around the country everyone has got injuries, but it's basketball."
On a positive note, Tech does get 7-foot center Esmir Rizvic back in time for Big 12 games.
The senior was granted an extra semester by the NCAA and chose to return for the more important games of the year, which will come in handy considering the list of injuries.
Either way, Tech will face an uphill battle to reach the top half in the Big 12, but as a vocal leader of the team, Singletary remains confident.
"I think we're all ready to make that step forward," he said, "and get back to playing the way that we were at the beginning of the year."
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