Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: Darrion Williams gets a strong double-double with 13 points on 6 of 11, 13 boards, 3 assists, 0 turnovers and a steal. I’d be a bit remiss if I didn’t mention another double-double with Warren Washington scoring 10 and grabbing 11 boards with 2 assists, 3 turnovers, and 2 blocks.
The Motion:
- Needed that! The spread was 5 or so and just barely beat that, thankfully to free throws and fouls. I’d add that the last two minutes, starting with a terrific defensive stand, then the offense scrapping for an offensive board, which led to Toussaint free throws (and then a free throw parade) was the key stretch in an otherwise really ugly (but fun) game.
- This was the first time in a long time where the defense held the opponent to under 1 point per possession at .952, which is terrific and Texas Tech also continued their ability to get over 1 point per possession at 1.082.
- Thank goodness for Warren Washington because he frees up so much and that starts on the boards, Texas Tech won that match-up 44 to 37 and had more offensive boards, 14 to 12. That’s terrific and one more stat, Texas Tech had 28 points in the paint to 30 for UCF and when you aren’t shooting well, needing those boards and limiting opponent 2nd chances is huge, especially since UCF was so good prior to the game.
- You don’t really like it when your 3 best scorers can’t score, Pop Isaacs was 2 of 13, Toussaint was 2 of 10 and chance McMillian was 2 of 9. That’s a combined 6 of 32 for those guys and to win the game without one of those guys shooting well is a testament to this team being able to persevere.
- Texas Tech made 12 of 35 attempts in the 1st half and 11 of 25 in the 2nd, which means there were 10 less attempts. That’s not an issue because the offense went to the line at a higher clip, from just 4 total free throws in the first half to 11 of 11 in the 2nd. It was hard to tell, but the offense really did shoot better as the game progressed, 34% to 44% from the 1st to 2nd half.
- Kerwin Walton absolutely keeps Texas Tech in this game in the first half. I wish he could figure out a way to hunt for shots all of the time, but Walton scored all of his 12 points in the first half, going 4 of 5 and that’s probably my biggest issue is that he never forces shots and sometimes it would be great if he did that because he can shoot.
- In the second half, it was the Darrion Williams, Toussaint, and McMillian show. McMillian gets shut out in the first half, but hits 2 huge shot in the second. Toussaint doesn’t necessarily make any shots in the 2nd half, but he does tone it down (he went 1 of 7 in the 1st) and makes all 6 of his free throws. Williams goes 4 of 5 in the 2nd half and that’s what wins the game for Texas Tech, plus his rebounding efforts mentioned above.
- Advanced stats have Robert Jennings at +14.1, which is true, he had really impactful minutes, even though it was only 11. Followed by Walton at +11.2, then Williams at +10.7, W. Washington at +7.3, and Toussaint at +2.7. McMillian and Isaacs had negative results, just barely for McMillian at -1.2, and Isaacs had a rough game at -8.7.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “It wasn’t the most ‘pleasing to the eye’ game. Obviously, offensively there were times where I thought we did good things. We struggled, give them credit, UCF’s defense is one of the best in the country. But man, it’s fun to win a game with defense. We haven’t been doing that very well. To be able to not play well offensively and to out-rebound team that going into the game we knew would be difficult to keep them off the glass. The fact that we found a way to win this game, got to the free throw line – we made more free throws than they attempted.”
- Up next? Kansas! Tomorrow, Monday, February 12th at 8:00 p.m. in the United Supermarkets Arena with the game on ESPN.
Highlights