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Game Recap
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: Jarrett Culver was magical and this was the quietest 26 points that I think I’ve ever seen. Culver’s ability to score in an array of moves inside and hit a few three-point shots, he led the way with 26 points, 2 boards, 4 assists, and 0 TURNOVERS.
Defender of the Game: I’m going with Norense Odiase who was absolutely dominant on the boards. He was a man on a mission. After his cousins passed away last weekend you could only imagine that Odiase would come out motivated, but he cleaned up the glass to the tune of 13 rebounds and was a huge reason why Texas Tech build that halftime lead.
Multi-Purpose Player of the Game: You could either go with Davide Moretti or Matt Mooney so we’ll do just that. Moretti scored 11 points, grabbed 4 boards, dished out 5 assists, had 1 steal, and 2 turnovers. Mooney had 13 points, 6 assists, 1 steal, and 3 turnovers on the night.
Game Notes:
- That was devastating. An absolute clinic on how a team dismantles the conference champion. Kansas allowed 1.49 points per possession, which is the highest total in Bill Self’s 570 games in Lawrence and that figure is now so far ahead of what was first place, last year’s Villanova team that put up 1.34 in the final four, that your Red Raiders put on the Jayhawks like no other in history of the Bill Self Era.
- That was some beautiful offense to watch. Only 8 turnovers, which means that in 61 possessions, Texas Tech had 34 field goals, and of those 34 field goals, 16 of them were three-point shots. To put this in perspective Texas Tech had a terrific offensive game against Oklahoma State and had a T-Rank offensive rating of 130.3. Against Baylor, it was even better, 131.4. Against Kansas, it was 161.9, by far the most impressive out-put offensively for the year.
- Defensively, Texas Tech was very good. One of the marks of having a good defensive night is how many dunks a team had and Kansas had none for the night. Kansas was being run out on three-point shots in the first half, making only 2 of 8, where they simply didn’t have any opportunities to make shots, which was the biggest difference between the last game with Kansas and this game. Kansas recovered in the second half, making 52% of the shots and 54% of their three-point shots. In other words, a hot-shooting Kansas in the second half meant a 29 point loss.
- One of my biggest problems with the Texas Tech offense at times has been how this team just loves to make the extra-extra pass, passing up shots in favor of making one more pass and then the defense has adjusted. I think since the Oklahoma State game, Texas Tech has made the extra pass, but they’ve also just stepped up and taken open shots rather than continue to swing the ball.
- Your best defender, Tariq Owens, only played 17 minutes because of foul trouble. He still scored 10 points but didn’t really get a chance to get into the flow of the game and affect the game defensively.
- The bench was outstanding, and as a group, they were 8 of 12 from the floor, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 blocks, and they were simply really terrific contributors. When Kyler Edwards, Brandone Francis, and Deshawn Corprew are hitting their shots, and they were definitely doing that, then this team is really tough to beat. The one stat that I didn’t mention that is probably the most important is that in addition to hitting 8 of 12 the bench made 7 of 9 three-point shots. They were unconscious.
- Head coach Chris Beard:
“It was just one of those nights. We played about as well as you could possibly play. We needed this night against Villanova, and we would have been in San Antonio. This is basketball and some nights you play great. If we shoot the ball like this, we could beat anybody in the country – but you can’t always count on that. I think it’s a combination of two things: Kansas didn’t play one of their better games and we played maybe our best game. But you have to give our guys a lot of credit, we’re the reason we played well and we’re some of the reason they didn’t play their best. Every guy on our team tonight shot 50% or higher, we had a low turnover game, we outrebounded them, and tonight we played as well as we could. In the second half, when you have a lead like that, you’re just trying to hang on. I was pleased to win the first four-minute game in the second half and that gave us a chance to kind of hang on.”
- Beard on being part of the fight:
“We want to be a part of the fight. To me, the fight starts about right now. If you make the tournament, you’re either a part of the fight or you’re not. The last three years, we have been a part of the fight. I am just proud of our guys. We have a lot of belief in our locker room that we are good enough to compete and so now it is a four-game season. The biggest game on our schedule is Wednesday night. With that being said, I just want to acknowledge the awesome crowd. The season ticket holders have been great all year and students really came out in force tonight. Just as we build the program, nights like tonight are special and we don’t take them for granted. Get the word out so we can have a crowd like we did tonight.”
- This game was statistically over with over 8 minutes remaining. Those advanced stats say that with 8:28 remaining, there was no way that Kansas could come back from this game. That’s cray yo.
- Oklahoma State is up next on Wednesday in Lubbock and will be on the road in Ft. Worth on Saturday. The advanced stats say that Texas Tech should finish 13-6 with the lone loss being at Iowa State in the last conference game of the season, with T-Rank saying that Texas Tech will lose by 0.1 points. Those same advanced stats say that Texas Tech and Kansas State will both finish 13-5 and then there is everyone else.
Highlights
Let’s. Go. #4To1
❄️#WreckEm❄️ pic.twitter.com/8GOIA5S4y6
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) February 24, 2019