Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: Last night was the night that Pop Isaacs maybe breaks out of his slump. Isaacs shot 10 of 19 including 5 of 11 from deep with 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and just 2 turnovers for 28 points total. Maybe just in time for conference play.
The Motion:
- Another game I did not get to watch as I took Youssouf to basketball practice. This looked like a game that played consistently in both halves, that Texas Tech had a lead in the first half and extended it in the second half. Defensively, the team held Sam Houston to 48% shooting and forced 11 turnovers in the first half and then turned around and allowed 32% shooting in the 2nd half and 4 turnovers. Texas Tech allowed only .896 points per possession, which is pretty terrible and scored 1.433 points per possession which is off the charts. This was predicted to be a 17 point win and Texas Tech won by 30+.
- The rebounding was pretty even and McCasland said after the game that he didn’t like the 12 offensive rebounds, but only allowed 8 2nd chance points. Those rebounds were 36 to 37 in favor of Texas Tech. Texas Tech had 16 fast break points and Sam Houston had none, that’s getting back nicely. The Texas Tech defense forced 15 turnovers and only had 7 on their own and the assist rate was 3:1 for Texas Tech as they has 21 dimes on the night to just 7 for SHSU.
- It was nice to see Walton get back on track and if he just gets a second he’ll score. Walton was 7 of 12 overall and 4 of 8 from deep and he’s taking inside shots and not shots outside.
- I saw on Twitter that Washington got a tech because he expressed himself (i.e. yelled) after a big block or a dunk and that seems pretty weak by the refs. He finished with 9 points and 8 rebounds, 3 assists, a turnover, a steal and 3 blocks. That’s filling up a box score.
- Darrion Williams is such a load and you’ll start to note that the guards do a good job of screening off of him in the flow of the offense and he had 9 points on just 6 shots, 4 boards, 6 assists, a block and a steal. No turnovers.
- McMillian scored 11 on 3 of 5 from the field and all those shots were from deep. He didn’t do much else, but he shot some 3-pointers.
- Advanced stats things said that Walton was +12.3 and Williams was +16.4 in box-score plus-minus.
- The only player that had a not so great game was Joe Toussaint who still scored 13 points on 2 of 6 from the field and 7 of 10 from the line, but he had 4 of the team’s 7 turnovers, 5 assists and 5 boards. Imagine scoring in double-figures and not having a great game.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “I knew we were in for a real physical game, but I was thrilled with our composure. The way we handled the pressure and the way we passed the ball. I thought we moved it and I thought we played a more complete game on both sides defensively and offensively. So, I was just really thrilled with the full 40 minutes of activity. I’m proud of the growth of our team.”
- Up next? Monday, January 1st at 1:00 p.m. hosting North Alabama.
Highlights