Game Links
Game Recap
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: Terrence Shannon was spectacular. 20 points on 7 of 9 from the floor including 2 of 3 from deep, 2 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 turnovers.
Multi-Purpose Player of the Game: Adonis Arms is my pick here, 11 points, including 4 of 9 from the floor, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and most importantly only 1 turnover.
Game Notes:
- This is a situation where TCU regressed to what they actually are rather than what they presented in the first half. That’s part of staying the course where they made 41% of their 3-point shots, 7 of 17, and then went ahead and made 4 of 10 in the second half. For the year, TCU has only made 30% of those 3-point shots, so definitely out of the norm. They shot 48% overall in the first half and 44% in the second What they didn’t do well was hold onto the ball and we’ll get to that in a second. TCU scored .93 points per possession while Texas Tech scored 1.3 and that was the difference in the game, which is that they valued possessions and TCU did not.
- Possessions are important. TCU valued them more in the first half, 7 total turnovers, and then in the second half they were simply shoving the ball to Texas Tech with 13 turnovers. And TCU also settled for jump shots for pretty much the entire game, only 12 free throws, 6 in each half. TCU is 330th in the nation in turnover percentage on offense, which means that this destroys their offense on a regular basis.
- And Texas Tech played well in the first half despite the score, 52% shooting in the 1st half and 56% in the second half. I’d also point out that this was not really a replay of the Oklahoma game at all. TCU didn’t swing the ball and they weren’t making the Texas Tech defense scramble, they were just making shots, they were not doing anything offensively that was creative. OU had a plan and they stuck to it for the entire game and if you really want to know I think that Texas Tech sort of struggled with teams in non-conference games, especially the teams that aren’t very good, but they are very good at shooting 3’s and so they are used to swinging the ball and getting off good shots.
- The big story that I’ve avoided thus far is that Kevin McCullar stepped on the foot of TCU head coach Jamie Dixon. Dixon was in the box and McCullar was backing up after taking a shot. After the game, Dixon said that he basically had no recollection of the event and that he needed to watch the tape. Dixon’s eyes were fixated on the shot, but the thing that I can’t shake is that Dixon and most humans have decent peripheral vision and know when another human is headed towards them, most former basketball players have this too (which Dixon is) and just chose not to step aside and get out of the way even in the slightest. He didn’t even acknowledge that a 210 pound human had even stepped on his foot. Just sort of stood there. Mark Adams took the high road and said that it was just a fluke and it probably was, but Dixon certainly did not move at all and wonder why he chose to stand in the way to a player backing up like McCullar was doing. The good news is that after the game, Adams said that X-rays were negative and that this is a high ankle sprain (which is not necessarily good), so hopefully McCullar can be back soon.
- Bryson Williams definitely got back on track, made 5 of 7 from the floor and scored 16 points, with 4 boards.
- More evidence of TCU just taking jump shots and Texas Tech being dominant in the paint? Points in the paint was 20 to 38 in favor of Texas Tech. Texas Tech scored 26 to 16 points off of turnovers, and Texas Tech’s bench doubled up TCU, 36-18.
- In TCU’s press conference leading up to the game, Damion Baugh said that they want to “get this one for Micah Peavy.” I found this strange, as if Peavy was run off by anyone and so I’m just not sure where that came from.
- Advanced stats box score? Shannon, Arms, Warren, Santos-Silva, Nadolny, and Williams were on the plus side with Obanor, Batch, Wilson, and McCullar on the negative.
- Head coach Mark Adams: “This particular game we’d already had some momentum coming back so it’s a little different. Our guys had seen that what we were doing now works, so we’re going to continue this and not let up again in the second half. Let’s continue to work and let’s continue what we’re doing. Let’s put the peddle to the metal and just go at them, and so we did not want to let up and not let off the gas there. I thought our guys responded well.”
- Up next? Texas Tech hosts Baylor on Wednesday, February 16th with tip-off at 8:00 p.m. and broadcast on ESPN2.
Highlights