Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: Darrion Williams was so smooth and so clutch. Syracuse didn’t have an answer for him, especially backing down solo. Williams finished with 20 points, 6 boards, 3 assists (felt like more), 1 steal and no turnovers. He scored when Texas Tech needed it.
The Motion:
- Closer than what you wanted, but that’s a really solid win. A few things, which is that we don’t really know if Texas Tech is great at guarding the 3-point line because Syracuse is not a good shooting team. What you saw in the 1st half, 5 of 12, from the Orange is not indicative of what they normally do. The 2nd half? They were just 1 of 9 and 29% overall. Syracuse just missed shots in the 2nd half that didn’t help them.
- They made up for it with a ton of free throws. Just 2 of 2 in the 1st half and 22 of 26 in the 2nd. I did not sit on my couch and think that there were egregious calls one way or another, the calls were a little tight, but nothing out of the ordinary. Syracuse stayed in this game because of that.
- Texas Tech was actually pretty consistent across the board, 41% in the 1st half, 45% in the 2nd, with not great 3-point shooting, just 33% overall.
- Some numbers. Texas Tech had just 3 turnovers for the game to 17 assists. Pretty great. Syracuse had 12, which isn’t terrible, but it’s not 3. Syracuse out-rebounded Texas Tech, 39-30 and the offensive boards were pretty equal, 10-9 in favor of the orange. Points in the paint were also pretty even, 34-30 in favor of the Red Raiders.
- Kerwin Walton started, but he played 5 minutes. My guess is that McCasland wanted a big defensive effort for this game and that’s not Walton. He will have to be better at that and it’s not an effort thing, but he’s sometimes just not good. Kevin Overton saw nearly all of those minutes.
- TJ Toppin was just 5 of 16 from the floor and despite that poor shooting game, he’s such a big player and he’ll make those close shots more times than he doesn’t. This doesn’t bother me at all. He still scored 15 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, 3 blocks, a steal and no turnovers. Chance McMillian was also really good for me, scoring 13 points, 4 boards, 1 assist, and just 1 turnover. He scored 8 of those 13 in the 2nd half.
- Elijah Hawkins had a much better game, just 2 of 6 from the floor, but had 11 points, had 3 boards, 6 assists and just 1 turnovers. He was a steady hand and I think it’s safe to say that he’s in game-shape.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “To start this tournament, we felt like we wanted to get better and tonight we did. We had a slow start on Thursday night but tonight we moved the ball better and our attention to detail was better. It’s always great to get a close game that you win where you scrap and find a way. You have to make free throws and get stops. We weren’t perfect by any stretch and can get significantly better. I thought Syracuse’s attack was great and had us on our heels. They cause us problems with two great guards, but in the end, we got stops and our 17 assists to three turnovers was the difference. We didn’t make a lot of shots, but didn’t turn it over.”
- Advanced stats said that Williams was your player of the game at +20.7, then Cambridge at +6.8, Hawkins +3.8, Toppin +3.6, and Overton at +3.1. McMillian (-0.9), Anderson (-0.7), and Federiko (-0.2) were all on the negative side of the ledger, but not by much.
- Up next?
Highlights