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Game Recap
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: Bryson Williams, right? Scoring 33 points on 14 of 19 from the floor, including 4 of 4 from deep, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, a block and a turnover.
Multi-Purpose Player of the Game: Davion Warren, scoring 15 points on 5 of 9, 3 rebounds, leading the team with 5 assists, 2 steals and 2 turnovers.
Game Notes:
- Staying up until the end of 2 overtimes and getting up at 4 to write a post-game thoughts is probably not conducive to a productive workday. I don’t have a ton of time, but this is really about giving you a space to discuss the game more than anything else.
- I think most teams would have folded when down by 12 in the second half and would not have fought back. That’s easy for me to say, but that’s been a pretty good identity for this team, which is to show up for each and every competition. Just getting to overtime was an accomplishment and making Kansas earn a win at home like that is not something you typically see.
- I did not like Terrence Shannon’s heaves at the end of regulation and second overtime. Just didn’t make sense. And Mark Adams agrees I think: “I just think that there were players that were trying too hard and do it on their own. I like to drive and try and get the foul. At the same time. You know when you’re on the road you just sometimes don’t get those calls. Sometimes you’re better off taking those jump shots. The ball didn’t fall our way, but we played well. On defense, we took better care of the ball than we have all year look at the minutes played. There’s a lot to look back on and a lot to play with this game.
- Shannon was 1 of 10 and McCullar was 1 of 11. Neither one of them have really been right since they’ve come back from injury, other than Shannon’s 23-point performance against West Virginia. It seems as if a lot of shots are forced by both of them and not in the flow of the offense. Both are missing badly from deep as well, 0-5 for Shannon and 0-4 for McCullar, who had to take a couple as the shot clock was winding down.
- Texas Tech doesn’t have a shot-creator on the team other than Williams who can create around the rim, but lots of times at the end of games, the ball is up front and you need a guard being able to drive and dish. That’s just not what this team is and that’s okay, they basically hung with Kansas for 50 minutes without that guy and found a way to score, but at the end of games, there’s no Mac McClung who can take guys off of a dribble and take shots.
- Kevin Obanor’s 15 points with 8 rebounds was really good. He’s not the outside shooter he was, but he is producing. He keeps doing it and I keep writing it.
- Advanced Stats Box Score? Williams, Obanor, Warren, Wilson, and Santos-Silva were the only positive players with McCullar, Shannon, and Arms being negative players. Absolutely agree with those numbers.
- Kansas head coach Bill Self: “If you’re Texas Tech, you’re disappointed you lose, but you leave here thinking that we have a damn good team. And I would have felt the same way if it had gone the other way, but we’re proud to be a part of this one tonight.”
- Head coach Mark Adams: “I learned that we have a tough and competitive team that is very resilient. You come in here and play against a really, really, good basketball team. We stood toe-to-toe with them, and dug a hole a few times, at halftime we were behind, but we came back. We showed a lot of determination and commitment to each other. I thought that we would win it in the first overtime.”
- Up next? A nice break. The next game is at home against Mississippi State, on this Saturday, January 29th with tip-off at 5:00 p.m. as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Then hosting Texas on February 1st.
Highlights