Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: Joe Toussaint was maybe the best I’ve seen in a while. He was 6 of 9 from the floor, including 3 of 4 from deep, 4 assists, and just 1 turnover.
The Motion:
- I thought that this might happen, a game that gets out of control a bit and Iowa State runs away with a win. Iowa State was a high turnover defensive team and they absolutely lived up to that reputation, Texas Tech had 16 on the day to just 6 for Iowa State. You sort of think that the guards won’t be affected by the loss of Warren Washington, but the end result was one where Iowa State scored 44 in the paint to just 22 for Texas Tech.
- We are in a fairly significant stretch where Pop Isaacs is in a serious funk. He did not help yesterday, 28 minutes and 2 of 11 from the floor including 0 for 7 from beyond the arc, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 turnovers. That’s a terrible performance and if you take him out of the mix, this game is probably a lot closer. I don’t like picking on players and I’m not picking on him personally, but from a basketball perspective, this isn’t it.
- That first half was terrible, 10 turnovers and 1 of 10 from the 3-point line and the only reason this was within 20 points it was because they went 9 of 12 from the free throw line. The defense allowed 9 offensive boards for Iowa State and that resulted in 8 2nd chance points. Iowa State had 24 points in the paint to just 6 for Texas Tech. So yea, just sort of lost this from the get-go.
- Lamar Washington has basically been dropped from the rotation. I don’t know why and I thought that he was sick, but maybe he’s injured?
- Things got slightly better in the 2nd half, the rebounds were better, 18 to 14 in favor of Texas Tech and made 7 of 18 from beyond the arc, reduced the points in the paint to just 20 and scored 16 of their own. Reduced turnovers from 10 in the 1st to just 6.
- A couple of good things. I liked Robert Jennings’ play, going 4 of 7 from the field with 5 rebounds and KyeRon Lindsay had 6 points with 4 boards. I think he could get more minutes. Texas Tech very easily could have raised the white flag and given in, but they did not. They continued to battle and it will show just an 8 point loss on the road to a good Iowa State team, not a 20 point blowout. I think that’s probably important in the grand scheme of the NCAA Tournament selection.
- Amazingly, Texas Tech still scored 1.042 points per possession, but allowed 1.123 for Iowa State.
- Advanced stats said that Toussaint was +12.8, with Lindsay at +8.0, Darrion Williams at +7.8, Walton at +6.1 and Jennings at +4.9. The only negatives at box score +/- was Chance McMillian (just barely) at -0.8, but Isaacs was horrendous at -15.9.
- Head Coach Grant McCasland: “Ultimately, their ability to turn turnovers into baskets was the difference, 28 to nothing. Not all of it was live ball, some of it was live ball, some was dead ball. Our defense is improving. I thought we scrapped more in the second half. I thought we got after it and got into the mix. We didn’t back away. We were more aggressive trying to get loose balls. We did a better job rebounding but it was just too little, too late.”
- Up next? Hosting TCU on Tuesday, February 20th with tip-off at 8:00 p.m. and the game on ESPN2.
Highlights
Highlights from our loss at No. 10 Iowa State 📹#TTW | #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/yquBYaE1sf
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) February 17, 2024