The Morning Stake | 2020.09.18

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Avalanche Journal’s Don Williams has a recap from a Matt Wells presser (I could not find it on YouTube) where he was presumably asked about a bunch of items including if having players out affected the performance against Houston Baptist:

“I think everyone can draw their own conclusions that, if you have quite a few guys miss practice, then the chemistry is not where you would want it to be,” Wells said. “We all understand that. Some of that is not so abnormal with football, because we’re used to that with injuries and things like that.

“We have a large amount of numbers, and it won’t ever be an excuse for me or this program. I’m trying to answer your question directly without it being an excuse, but the more numbers you have out, the less continuity, less chemistry and those kind of things happen.

“But we’re also tasked with playing and practicing in the midst of a pandemic and so that’s going to be part of the challenge as we continue throughout the season.”

I think it is a fair to say that injured players affect the team’s ability to practice, but I also think it is also fair to say that Texas Tech’s talent should still be better to beat Houston Baptist by 3.

I also mentioned this spring/summer that this team would be in more man coverage and Wells mentions in the article that there, “a couple of things in man technique and got exposed a little bit.”

Also mentioned is newly eligible defensive end Tyree Wilson is still working his way into shape, but will play against Texas.

In a surprise move, the NCAA granted a waiver to Texas Tech guard Jamarius Burton and is now immediately eligible. The thought was that Burton would sit out this year and simply redshirt, which I would guess is still a possibility. Burton is a transfer from Wichita State where he averaged 10 points and 3.4 assists a game for the Shockers. In reading Burton’s bio, Burton’s mother played college basketball as did his siblings, a brother and two sisters. His cousin is Aundrus Peat, who is 6’7″ and 315 and plays for New Orleans.

My guess is that if Mac McClung doesn’t get his waiver, then Burton definitely plays because Texas Tech does lack smaller guards (lots of 6’6″ options, but only Kyler Edwards, Clarence Nadolny, Avery Benson, and Mac McClung are 6’4″ or under). This gives Beard some serious options and I’m trying to figure out who doesn’t play with this roster.

Here are some tweets.

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