Game Links
Game Recap
Player of the Game: Zhaire Smith really stepped up his game, scoring 18 points on 7 of 12 from the floor, including 2 of 2 from beyond the 3-point line, grabbed 4 rebounds, and had 1 block. A lot of that was in the first half, but I’ll still take it.
High Flyer of the Game: Zhaire really had the best dunks of the night and I could probably write his name here for the foreseeable future.
Defender of the Game: Well, when the opposing teams shots 52% from the floor and 50% from the three-point line, not sure if anyone really deserves that.
Multi-Purpose Player of the Game: Niem Stevenson played well, making 5 of 10 of his shots, grabbed 4 rebounds, had 4 assists and just 1 turnover.
Game Notes:
- This is a game that I really don’t want to write a ton about. It’s a stinker. The only positive thing that came out of this is that the fans at Oklahoma State “stormed” the court after the win, and if you would have asked them if they would do that before the season, they would have laughed at you.
- There’s always going to be stinkers and we sorta keep preaching that any team is capable of losing at any point and the bottom team is capable of an upset. Well, when your starting point guard that has led the team only scores 2 points and shoots 1 of 7 from the floor without any free throws, you know that things probably aren’t going to go well. Evans obviously doesn’t feel comfortable maybe trying to create with that toe injury and so you just sort of shoot a bunch of jumpshots hoping that you’re hot. That’s not the Keenan Evans who has played all year.
- It was nice to see the two freshmen bounce back a bit, Zhaire’s 18 points and Jarrett Culver had 15 points on 5 of 12 from the floor with 6 boards, 2 assists, a steal, a block and a turnover. Oh, and Davide Moretti played decent minutes, banking in a three-point shot. He needed to hit something.
- This was not a game where the big guys stepped up their game, Norense Odiase only had 11 minutes and Tommy Jamilton only played 13. Their impacts were minimal at best, save for a couple of three-point shots from Hamilton.
- Yeah, sometimes, teams just get hot and that’s enough to propel a team to a win. That’s what happened with Oklahoma State in the second half, shooting lights out to start the half and Texas Tech was never really able to recover. I can’t recall another game where the defense sorta let Texas Tech down and this was it for the year.
- I’m still comfortable with the defense recovering and won’t stress too much about it, however, Kansas is a three-point shooting team and if you don’t think that they’re now salivating for Saturday, you’ve got another thing coming. They’re coming for that Big 12 title and I’d guess they’ll be highly motivated.
- Head coach Chris Beard after the game, emphasis mine:
“I just want to congratulate Oklahoma State on a good Big 12 win.” Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. “I thought they played harder than us tonight and with more emotion. That’s really disappointing from our point of view. Also, I know with the weather and all, I was really impressed with the crowd tonight. It doesn’t surprise me. I know this is one of the most historic basketball programs in the history of the game. It was really cool to see Coach [Eddie] Sutton here tonight. Of course, Sean [Sutton] has done a great job for us, and I know Scott [Sutton] is doing the same for Mike [Boynton]. I want to recognize the crowd. I thought the student section here was good. We didn’t play our best, but I think you have to give Oklahoma State a lot of credit. That’s about as bad as we have been whipped at the start of the second half. So, hopefully our team will learn from it.”
Highlights