Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: JT Toppin gets this the 2nd game in a row, but that happens when you score 32 on 12 of 17 including 12 boards, 2 assists, 3 blocks, a steal and 1 turnover. Pretty tough to beat a team when you have one guy going 12 of 17. One other note is that Toppin didn’t miss a shot in the 2nd half, a perfect 6 of 6 from the field, including 1 of 1 from deep, and 3 of 3 from the line.
The Motion:
- Another Saturday where I was home for 30 minutes in-between a junior high basketball tournament until 2:30 and club basketball until 10:00. I would be surprised if some of you watched all of this game considering the score.
- In addition to Toppin, Texas Tech made 16 3-pointers, making 16 of 37, good for 43%. And this was a situation where Texas Tech hit 41% in the 1st half and 45% in the 2nd, so there was no let-up at all, and when you have a threat like Toppin down low, getting good looks is a lot easier.
- Of all things, Kerwin Walton and Kevin Overton were the only 2 players who had 10 or more attempts, Walton was 2 of 10 and Overton was 4 of 11, so not exactly great shooting. The point here is that this was a pretty equal scoring load, 5 players in double-figures including a guy who scored 32 and the rest of the team didn’t need to do very much. The ball movement looked to be fantastic and having 11 assists in the 1st half and 12 in the 2nd is evidence of that.
- Credit also to the Texas Tech defense, Oklahoma State only scored .833points per possession, the Cowboys made just 37% of their shots, including 35% from deep. They were terrible at the free throw line, just 11 of 21, this game would have been respectable had they just hit free throws.
- Texas Tech out-rebounded Oklahoma State 40-29, had 23 fast break points to just 5 for the Cowboys, 21 points off of turnovers to just 8 for OSU. You don’t see that many fast break points all that often, but having the ability to get out and run and score easy buckets is ideal.
- Christian Anderson continues to be an incredibly efficient guard, scoring 5 of 9, 4 of 8 from deep. He is the next and maybe more advanced Chance McMillian.
- Speaking of Chance, McMillian scored 10 points on just 2 of 4, both 3-pointers and a perfect 4 of 4 from the line. Hawkins scored 11 on 3 of 5 from the floor including 6 assists. Darrion Williams wasn’t really needed, but he tossed in 5 assists. Good news is that McMillian and Williams played 26 and 22 minutes respectively.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “I was thrilled with the way our guys competed. They didn’t look at the scoreboard and tried to play the game the right way, regardless of the score. We’re playing together and the right way. Our offense is really starting to move the basketball. The last time we played them we got pretty good 3-point looks, but just didn’t make them in stretches. Tonight, we did. When we’re making 3s, it’s a difficult dilemma. I think we have a couple of the best 3-point shooters in the country, some of the best set-up guys in the country and then when you get JT in the middle of that it’s a monster. We had it all going.”
- Advanced stats had Toppin at +32.2, Anderson and Hawkins at +15.1, McMillian at +11.9, Williams at +4.3, and Overton at +1.9
- Up next? Texas Tech continues their road trip in Ft. Worth against TCU on Tuesday, February 18th, tip-off at 7:00 p.m. and the game on ESPN+.
Highlights