Game Links
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game
We’ll go with T.J. Holyfield, who had a really nice game. Holyfield hasn’t really been a presence in the scoring column, but Holyfield was looking to shoot the ball and that’s significant. Holyfield was 7 of 10 for 17 points, including 2 of 3 from the three-point line, to go with 7 boards and an assist. If Holyfield is a a scoring presence, then this changes a lot of things.
The Motion
- Well, that was just a weird game, I thought at halftime this thing was going to go to the wire, but a combination of a hot-shooting half from Texas Tech and the exact opposite from Oklahoma State ended up in a 35 point win for Texas Tech. Texas Tech shot 59% from the floor in the second half, and that includes basically not scoring for the last 2 minutes and the backups playing the last 4 or 5 minutes, while OSU shot 25% from the field. Another huge disparity, OSU had 10 rebounds total (2 of those were offensive) in the second half, Texas Tech had 24 (6 of them were offensive that led to 11 2nd chance points), 9 assists for Texas Tech and just 2 for Oklahoma State. Just a complete and dominate second half in just about every way.
- And really, it was Terrence Shannon that led the charge with 13 points in the second half going 5 of 7, and he was almost completely quiet in the first half, mainly because he had 3 fouls and couldn’t get out of his own way.
- At the end of the half, there was this really interesting exchange, Texas Tech was on defense and OSU was playing for the last shot. It’s almost as if Texas Tech knew exactly what was coming, and I think it was Holyfield who switched with another defender (Moretti was on the ball defending I think) who was about to set a screen. Holyfield’s pre-screen switch ended up putting Holyfield on the guy he wanted to guard after the screen to basically negate the screen entirely. It’s one thing for a player to know the game plan. It’s another thing for the players to actively implement the game plan, but when you have a player knowing what the opposing offense is going to do because you’ve seen the film and the player has enough forethought to orchestrate a change that puts the defense in the right position, there’s some serious player-to-coach communication happening. That is the epitome of how this is supposed to be played.
- So many scorers from yesterday, 4 players in double-figures with Jahmi’us Ramsey leading with way with 18 points on 6 of 11 from the floor and 4 of 7 from the three-point line. He’s just so dangerous to just pull up at any time and when he’s feeling it, it’s an absolute game-changer. After watching him the last two games fully healthy, there’s no way that Texas Tech loses all three-games.
- Davide Moretti had an incredibly quiet 13 points on 4 of 8 from the field, including 2 of 5 from the three-point line, 5 assists, 0 turnovers and that’s pretty terrific. Moretti was never the point guard that creates his own shot, but having Ramsey as a shooting threat creates space and defenders have to defend him, so when they run out on Ramsey, that leaves Moretti open.
- Chris Clarke was quiet in the sense that he didn’t handle the ball as much, but by the end of the game, he’s got 6 points on 2 of 3 from the field, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 turnovers. He just plugs away at all of the things that you don’t think he can do and when he’s playing center, opposing teams just don’t have an answer for what he does. Clarke won’t be able to do that against some centers in the Big 12, but he can feast on a player like Anei who isn’t a huge post-threat.
- And I should also add on Moretti, there was a point in the game where Anei, the center for Oklahoma State, gets switched on Moretti and Moretti calls off whoever is going to try to screen for him because Moretti wants to take him one-on-one, which he does, Anei gets off balance a bit, but Moro finds I think Terrence Shannon driving to the bucket and he’s a terrific layup.
- Little concerned about Kyler Edwards, who had a nice shooting game the last time out, he may be back to not-so-great shooting ways, going 0-5 from the three-point line, but he was 3 of 8 overall and went to the line 4 times. Edwards is really good in traffic and around the bucket and maybe he needs his confidence there rather than from the outside.
- Despite not having anyone over 6’8″ on the floor most of the time, Texas Tech dominated points in the paint, 28-6, largely because Texas Tech is so athletic and can just go to the rim with just about anyone.
- Kevin McCullar got in the game and played 8 minutes, scoring 7 points. That’s great, but he also turned the ball over the first 3 times he touched the ball. It’s crazy how he can be a turnover machine at times. I wrote this the last time, but if he figures this out, he’ll play quite a bit.
- Chris Beard on Oklahoma State:
On playing against OSU: “In college basketball, you don’t want to give the other team’s best shooters great looks. It’s impossible to keep a guy from making any shots because of the players on the floor and again, they’re coaching staff knows what they’re doing so we were pleased that we were competing and we were contesting shots. (Lindy) Waters, just like McGriff, my respect level for him is off the charts and he’s just a guy that’s going to get his, he scores in a variety of ways. We definitely had an urgency to guard the three’s, it wasn’t perfect, but I thought we were dialed in.”
- Up next is Baylor on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at the United Supermarkets Arena. That’s going to be a big one.
Highlights
Started the new year right.
🔴#4To1 | #WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/EAbRXVnCjA
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) January 4, 2020
📸2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ vision📸
🔴#4To1 | #WreckEm⚫️https://t.co/Dt4rkmi8tQ
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) January 5, 2020