Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: JT Toppin scores 25 on 10 of 19, 11 boards, 4 assits, 3 blocks, 1 steal, and just 1 turnover. He’s amazing and a joy to watch.
The Motion:
- Arizona State just didn’t have enough juice. That’s it. They don’t have any shooters left, just 2 of 15 from deep for the game, and they just couldn’t keep pace with Texas Tech with just 6 scholarship players. It is amazing the difference between the two Hurley brothers.
- Two turnovers for the game. That’s right, just 2 and averaged 1.393 points per possession compared to just .950 for Arizona State. Add in 16 assists and that’s sort of the game. To add a little bit of salt to the sound, Arizona State didn’t turn the ball over either, just 6, but they only had 6 assists.
- Texas Tech had 32 bench points to 0 (yes, 0) for Arizona State, and Texas Tech had 13 2nd chance points to 0 for ASU.
- Christian Anderson is the truth. Scoring 21 points, 5 of 10 from the field, 4 of 8 from deep, 7 of 7 from the line. The deep 3 at the end of the half seemed like a dagger in a way.
- Kerwin Walton is looking much more comfortable and more aggressive, or maybe the right amount of aggressive. Walton scored 11 on 3 of 8, including 3 of 7 from deep.
- Chance McMillian didn’t have a poor shooting night, but it wasn’t great either. He always does so much, 5 boards, 6 assists, which led the team, 1 steal, and no turnovers. Of all things, Elijah Hawkins had just 1 assist.
- I was glad to see Darrion Williams return after what was maybe a tweak of his leg/ankle.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “We did feel the strength of our bench and over the course of the game if we could stay aggressive defensively we could break the game open just due to the limited number of guys that they had,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “We were able to do that to finish the game and stretch the game out. Man, the bench points for us 32 to nothing was really the difference, 13 second chance points to zero, and only turning it over twice and having 16 assists, and not giving them but two 3s. It was just kind of accumulative of a lot of things that allowed us to win the game tonight. Our guys are connected right now and are really trying to play for each other to win and it’s a blessing to be a part of this team.”
- Advanced stats had JT Toppin at _17.5, Anderson at +14.8, McMillian at +9.8, Overton +9.4, Walton +5.6 and Federiko +6.4. Hawkins was -1.6 and Williams was -2.2.
- Up next? Texas Tech will play on Thursday, March 13th at 6:00 p.m. with the game being on ESPN or ESPN2. The opponent will be the eventual winner between Arizona State and Kansas State, the winner will then play Baylor and the winner of that game will play Texas Tech. By being the #2 seed, Texas Tech is one of 4 teams with a double-bye.
Highlights