Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: I’m giving this to Pop Isaacs for this game, leading the team with 24 points on 9 of 17 and 4 of 8 from deep, 5 boards, 4 assists, and no turnovers.
The Motion:
- I know the defense ramped things up early when Oklahoma State was hitting everything to start the game, but the offense is cooking. Texas Tech had 1.429 points per possession, which is sort of insane. The fact that there are only 4 turnovers, 17 assists, and scoring 11 off of the 9 Oklahoma State turnovers makes this offense lethal right now.
- The defense did do really well, eventually held Oklahoma State to 47% from the field and that’s not great, but not terrible (when your offense shoots 54% that helps) and the biggest key is the points in the paint, Texas Tech had 46 to the Cowboys’ 24. Not only that, but the Texas Tech defense forced OSU to only have 5 assists, compared to 17 for Texas Tech.
- Washington had 5 assists from the post and he was 7 of 10 from the field, 16 points, 4 boards, 5 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal, and 1 turnover. And if Williams nearly had a double-double with his 14 points, 9 boards, and 4 assists. Imagine getting 9 assists from your post players? That’s not normal.
- I think I’m at the point with Walton that he’s just going to be okay when he can get shots and if he can’t, then he won’t. He’s not going to force the issue. I do think going to the rim helps and Walton was 7 of 8 from the floor and 2 of 2 from deep, so 6 of his shots were inside the arc AND he finished with 5 boards.
- McMillian and Toussaint didn’t have great nights, but that’s okay. Toussaint was okay, 3 of 9, but 7 of 8 from the free throw line and he had 4 fouls, same for McMillian who also had 4 fouls. There are enough guys here to pick up the offense if a couple of guys aren’t hitting on all cylinders. And McMillian wasn’t bad, he was 2 of 2 from the floor, he just didn’t get a ton of shots up.
- Texas Tech did get back to rebounding and won 30 to 29, so not by much. When a team is hitting shots like they are, there’s not a ton of opportunities for 2nd chance points and Oklahoma State only had 7 offensive boards.
- A 17 point win at home against a pretty good Oklahoma State team doesn’t feel right. I can’t wait for Saturday.
- Advanced stats tell us that Washington should be the player of the game again, +14 bpm was the game high, while Isaacs had +8.9 and Walton had +9.7. That’s a difficult thing to guard.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “These games are tough in the Big 12. Give them credit, they didn’t back down and they made some threes late but the way we shared the ball and the way we committed to handling their runs, I love this group and the way that they stick together.”
- Up next? Kansas State comes to the United Spirit Arena on Saturday, January 13th for a 3:00 pm tip-off and the game will be on ESPN2.
Highlights