Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: Pop Isaacs continues to pop, he scored 25 to lead the team and was 8 of 18, including 5 of 11 from deep with 5 boards, 9 assists, 1 steal and 2 turnovers.
The Motion:
- It happens. That is losing on the road against a very good team. TCU’s Peavy had a career night from deep, something that hasn’t ever happened, and Joe Toussaint was pretty bad, maybe his worst game as a Red Raider and that ends up being the result. TCU also had some favorable foul calls and Texas Tech was in foul trouble, 3 players with 4 fouls, so yeah. It was bound to happen.
- Texas Tech went through one of the toughest stretches of the year going 2-2 when they were essentially expected to lose all four games. I know it’s not fun to try to sugarcoat a loss, but it is good to look at what happened with some perspective and overall, I’m pretty pleased with how this team has played. And this also isn’t to say that it’s going to get significantly easier, but T-Rank is predicting that Texas Tech loses 2 more games the rest of the season and although the likelihood of that happening is not good, the forecast looks mostly sunny and I think that’s pretty great.
- I mentioned Joe Toussaint’s rough game and it was rough. Toussaint alone had 8 turnovers, but he also had 9 assists. The tough thing is that he’s had a really tough time finding shots recently. He was just 1 of 3 and we’ve sort of seen his production dip a bit that’s somewhat worrisome.
- I’m still happy that Chance McMillian is shooting because I love watching him play and I love his shot. McMillian went 7 of 13 including 5 of 9 from deep, with 19 points, but didn’t do much else.
- Let’s talk about the bad. Texas Tech allowed 12 TCU offensive boars, to just 4 for Texas Tech and off of those 12 boards, TCU had 14 2nd chance points. I mentioned after Texas Tech’s last win against Oklahoma that Texas Tech’s defense was struggling, and the same can be said here, allowing 1.288 points per possession while Texas Tech had 1.219. Any amount over 1.000 is really terrific depending on what side of the fence that you are on and the Texas Tech defense allowing such a big figure is tough. I think the offense is fine, but the defense needs some work and McCasland mentioned that afterwards.
- Warren Washington is a rock and I don’t know how Texas Tech replaces him next year. That’s hyperbolic and I know that McCasland will, but he’s so solid. Those 4 alley-oops in a row were beautiful and he’s just such a solid player. It’s a shame he’s only here for a year.
- Both Darrion Williams and Kerwin Walton have had issues getting shots off recently. Walton has been quiet and I’d love to see him as a bigger threat in the offense if Toussaint isn’t going to get back on track. Williams isn’t getting many touches inside and I’d love to see more of that.
- Advanced stats said that it was the defense that had big issues, didn’t force turnovers, allowed way too many free throws (i.e. too many fouls), and TCU to shoot so well from outside, 11 of 20 overall. Individually, it was just Toussaint that had a negative box score +/- at -9.0, while Isaacs was +10.3 and McMillian was +11.2 topping things out.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “They put us in a lot of tough situations tonight with their athleticism, shot-making, offensive rebounding, physicality. They had an ability to get to the free-throw line. I just felt like they beat us in all the top areas. What this league is about is imposing your will on teams and I thought TCU imposed their will on us. They did a tremendous job of staying in attack mode and when they needed to make open shots they did. It was an impressive effort by them.”
- Up next? Back at home on Saturday, February 3rd to host Cincinnati with tip-of at 5:00 p.m. with the game on ESPN+.
Highlights
Tough one in Fort Worth.
🎥 Highlights from our loss at No. 25 TCU#TTW | @Gatorade pic.twitter.com/Anio1rl5du
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) January 31, 2024