Game Links
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game
Give me Kevin McCullar, which is what head coach Chris Beard said right after the game. In the second half, there was a couple of moments where McCullar was down low, grabbed an offensive board and got an and-one, and I think he had another one of those as well. It was that determination that Texas Tech really needed and loved the effort. McCullar finished 3 of 6 from the floor and 4 of 7 from the free throw line, for 10 points, 5 rebounds, an assist, 3 steals, and 2 turnovers.
The Motion
- Not to be denied. That was not pretty, but they are usually not pretty and are usually not a ton of fun on the road, but a win, on the road is a quality win in the Big 12. I thought the best thing about how Texas Tech played was how relentless they were in going to the basket time and time again in the second half.
- In fact, the offense at the end of the game was to give the ball to Edwards or Ramsey, set a high screen and everyone pretty much gets flattened along the baseline and then as a defender goes to help, that offensive player goes to the basket. And it Texas Tech actually did that, it worked.
- There are days/nights when the offense looks terrible and I thought that was the case in the first half, mostly as a result of a ton of turnovers. I think the announcers said that there were 6 straight in the first half, so the first half looked much worse than what it probably was. At the end of the game, the turnovers was 16 for Texas Tech and Kansas State had 20, and I’d guess that they had a majority of them in the second half when they would seemingly just throw the ball away in what seemed like an important possession.
- This has nothing to do with Texas Tech, but I thought that Kansas State was one of the more undisciplined teams I think I’ve ever seen and I don’t know what happened from last year to this year.
- Lots of love to Kyler Edwards who set a career high in points with 24, going 9 of 14 and 3 of 4 from the three-point line. I thought that Edwards was outstanding, not settling for just three-point shots, but going to the basket and a mid-range game. He didn’t look like he was forcing anything offensively.
- K-State was really focused on Jahmi’us Ramsey defensively I thought and he did struggle outside, making only 4 of 12 and 1 of 5 from the three-point line, but when he drove to the basket, he was near impossible to stop and I’d love to see the clear-out for him on a more regular basis. There are few players in the country that can stop him.
- It would be nice if TJ Holyfield was a bit more aggressive and wanted to finish strong and wanted to take a shot, he seems to over-rotate the ball a bit and he seems to defer way too much. Sometimes, you have to take the shot and you have to go up offensively and be a little creative or try to dunk the ball.
- Texas Tech out-rebounded K-State 31-23 and Texas Tech had 14 offensive boards, which is really high.
- Not even going to talk about the refs, but what a shit-show at times.
- Chris Beard on the win:
“These Big 12 games are hard to win, especially on the road,” Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. “We’re really pleased we were able to get a win tonight. At the top of the list of reasons why is that we have so much respect for Coach Weber and this program. Big 12 championship, Elite 8 the last couple of years. Thought our guys played really hard tonight. Obviously, played much better statistically in the second half, but I thought both halves we played about as hard as we could in spurts of the game.”
- Texas Tech will return home on Saturday against Iowa State, game is set for a 3:00 p.m. tip.
Highlights
In this league, you earn your wins on the road.
The 18-round fight moves back to our place Saturday.
🔴#4To1 | #WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/w6s8UaG9ql
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) January 15, 2020