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Game Recap
Player of the Game: Gotta go with Keenan Evans, who pretty much kept Texas Tech with a nice cushion for the entire game (even that 7 point lead in the second half). Without Evans, I think this is a loss for sure. Evans finished with 27 points, on 7 of 11 from the field and 13 of 14 from the charity stripe. Evans also had 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and just 1 turnover.
High Flyer of the Game: Zach Smith, heck, just for the last dunk of the game, he was down the court and jumping to dunk from what seemed like just inside the free throw line.
Defender of the Game: Brandone Francis needs to get something for this game and I’m giving it to him for his defensive play. What we’ve learned over the course of the last few games is that Francis is very intense and kinda likes that spotlight. What Francis and the rest of the team are very adept at doing is switching and with the way this team is set up. Plus Francis (and Gray) had to play some good low post defensive with Zach Smith out for the best part of the second half.
Multi-Purpose Player of the Game: It really has to be Zhaire. He had 11 points on 4 of 7 from the field, 6 rebounds, which led the team, an assist and a steal a.
Game Notes:
- This was a weird game, a game that saw Kansas State come roaring back in the second half and a game where Texas Tech looked really uneven. The Red Raiders had 15 turnovers, which is uncharacteristic and a turnover percentage of 23%, which isn’t very good. That’s turning the ball over on over one-fourth of their possessions. Kansas state was worse, checking in at 24%.
- Weird stat: Kansas State only had 19 total rebounds, of which 6 were offensive. That seems like a really low number. The Red Raiders ended up out-rebounding the Wildcats by 10.
- Wanna win a game? Shoot 58.5% from the field. The only guy that show below 50% was Jarrett Culver who was 3 of 9 from the field including 1 of 6 from beyond the arc. Culver had a rough game, lots of fouls and just had a tough time staying in front of folks. It happens. He’s a freshman.
- This was an uncharacteristically rough night from a turnover perspective, the second half was just odd and just a few slopping plays led to turnovers.
- That first half defense by Texas Tech on K-State was the stuff of legends. Just brutal shooting on K-State’s part, but on top of that, Texas Tech was just sufocating defensively.
- Zach Smith really didn’t play the second half. beard said after the game that Smith is working his tail off to get healthy and maybe holding Smith out in the second half was precautionary. Get well soon.
- There’s a chance that some Red Raider is upset at a 16 point win against Kansas State where Texas Tech led the entire way. Here’s the deal, and I’m going to repeat this against Oklahoma and maybe other places. This is a pretty good team that Texas Tech has. It has flaws, especially inside and without Zach, that’s a problem. And this team is going to lose a game at some point, but don’t you dare blame it on the team’s success (i.e. “The team was reading too much of their press clippings.” or “The team let beating Kansas get to their heads.” You can take that mess and I’m going to slap it back to halfcourt. Again, they’re going to lose, this team seems really resilient and talented. Enjoy the ride.
Highlights