This one hurts. Texas Tech was up as much as 14 points and allowed Iowa State to come all the way back to end up winning by 7. That’s a 21 point turnaround and it’s disappointing because the game was there for the taking.
This really was a game of two halves. In the first half, Texas Tech shot 48% from the floor and 44% from the three-point line, but only shot 27% in the second half and 17% from the three-point line. The other statistical note is that Texas Tech only shot 8 free throws for the entire game. Sure, there were some foul calls missed, but this means that Texas Tech was settling for jump shots rather than taking the ball to the rack.
For the course of the game, Texas Tech and Iowa State essentially shot the same percentages, Texas Tech shot 38% and ISU shot 40%, while Texas Tech and ISU both shot 29% from the three-point line, the same figure, 6 of 21, but the difference in the game was those free throws where Iowa State made 15 and Texas Tech made just 6.
Texas Tech didn’t get good scoring games from guys that they normally depend upon. Aaron Ross, still working his way back from injury, only scored 6 points, but he only played 16 minutes. Getting him back on track is huge for this team and offense. Norense Odiase only saw 5 minutes total and only shot one shot and missed. Again, he’s coming back from injury, but having an inside presence is huge.
The starters pretty much all played 30 minutes and that may be a bit of a problem moving forward. It’s fine to push those guys and this was a close game, but Beard is going to have to rely on his bench a bit more. Niem Stevenson was one of the better shooters yesterday, making 3 of 4 yesterday and scored 7 points, but only played 17 minutes. Shaddell Millinghaus only played 2 minutes, but he also had 2 turnovers, so he needs to earn it back and just play better because this team needs him because the guard rotation is incredibly thin without him.
The other big difference in the game was turnovers. Texas Tech had 9 turnovers in the first half and 6 in the second half. It’s not that ISU scored off of them, but that Texas Tech lost those scoring opportunities. Those figures don’t show up in how a team shoots, but if you add those into the equation, Texas Tech just wasn’t efficient enough on offense. Oh, and West Virginia is on the way. That’s got to stop because the Mountaineers will absolutely eat that up.
Keenan Evans scored in double-figures, 15 points, but it took him 18 shots and that’s way too much, while Anthony Livingston was the other player that scored in double-figures, scoring 13 points on 10 shots. Zach Smith was huge on the boards, grabbing 14 rebounds.
