Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: Terrence Shannon scored 18 on 5 of 13, so not a great shooting evening, with 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, a block and a turnover.
The Motion:
- This post-game thoughts could turn into a lot of things, but I thought it would be helpful to turn it into a “what the team needs to improve upon before the NCAA Tournament starts” type of post. At the time, it felt more productive than just complaining about refs or whatever.
- The first item would be that free throws are free for a reason and this is a much different game if Texas Tech makes what they normally make, which is 71%, although it doesn’t change the dynamic by much. Texas Tech shot 20 free throws and made 12. A 71% clip would be 14 so not too much different. It felt worse because it felt out of character a bit. The one that stung for me was the Mac McClung front end miss of a one-and-one late in the game. McClung normally makes 80%, so it was completely out of character, but he also was 1-3.
- The last two minutes or so felt like a disaster in offensive sets and production. Beard made the decision to replace McClung in the lineup with a non-offensive player, opting instead for the better defender, Micah Peavy. That may have been an error because Peavy’s defense didn’t necessarily help the team because Texas scored buckets while Texas Tech did not. Hindsight is 20/20 and if you’re giving Beard that option again, he probably goes defense every day of the week and twice on Sunday. But there should be some pause about what if he should make that decision again. The offensive “play” for two possessions as for the team to clear out and for Terrence Shannon to take two huge shots or get fouled. Neither one of those things happened and Shannon’s shot attempts came up empty. If it’s me? I’m not clearing out space, but doing what’s I’ve done for 38 minutes, swinging the ball, working the defense, and attempting to find a good shot. If it gets down to 10 seconds, then I put the ball in McClung’s hands and then go from there because he’s your best passer and he’s a fine shooter most of the time, although he didn’t have a great game.
- I think that Beard needs to figure out a way to pull those defenders away from the basket because that was a problem. The two shot-blockers for Texas so reminded of having Tariq Owens and I’m so jealous of having a shot-blocker (or two) be able to defend the rim. Texas had 7 blocks on the night and I’d love me some of that.
- This wasn’t a particularly good shooting evening for Texas Tech overall. Only Marcus Santos-Silva shot better than 50% (of those players shooting more than 3 shots) going 4 of 9, but just about everyone had a rough night including Shannon missing more shots than not. Edwards went 1 of 7 from beyond the arc and 2 of 11 from the field, McClung went 3 of 8 from the field, McCullar was 5 of 13. Credit the Texas defense. They’re a buzz saw and I think they are going to cause issues for teams in the Tournament. The biggest issue for Texas in my opinion? They’re a bit wild-assed, which can be great sometimes emotionally because a team can feed off of it, but it can probably also lead to a team cratering emotionally too. I think that’s going to happen for them, but they are no doubt talented.
- The biggest foul call, the foul on Kyler Edwards with 1.8 seconds sending Matt Coleman to the line where he made both free throws, was never replayed and that was frustrating. The refs did seem to swallow their whistles when Shannon drove to the lane in both of his late possessions, but whatever Edwards’ foul was, it did not appear to be egregious and you would have thought that the refs might treat that call the same way. They didn’t, but it should not have come down to that for Texas Tech.
- Some stats. Texas Tech shot 40% from the field compared to 45% for Texas. Texas also shot better long-range making 42% of their three’s compared to 35% for Texas Tech. Can’t blame the refs for lack of free throw disparity as Texas only shot 8 all game compared to 20 for Texas Tech. Texas Tech did have 28 points in the paint compared to 24 for UT. The Longhorns out-rebounded Texas Tech by 4, 38-34. Both teams only had 13 assists, while Texas Tech had 13 turnovers and Texas had 20. With Shannon starting, Texas Tech lost their punch off the bench, losing that category 13-25.
- Head coach Chris Beard:
“I really thought the tougher team was going to win tonight, and I thought Texas was the tougher team in the parts of the game that mattered most,” Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. “I think Texas Tech was the tougher team during spurts of the game, but when it gets down to the last four or five minutes, classic March, Texas Tech-Texas game. We’ve been in three battles with these guys. We won two. They won one, this year, and this one stings because it’s in the postseason. Another thing is just undeniable and that’s free-throw shooting. You’re not going to make every free throw, but if you want to have success in March Madness, you’ve got to make a certain percentage, and then your best players have to step up there and make free throws.”
- Up next? Selection Sunday.
Highlights