Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: I can’t pick between Elijah Hawkins, Darrion Williams, and JT Toppin. Hawkins would not let Stirtz have an inch. His defensive ability proved to be critical in defending Drake. Williams and Toppin were dominant inside, Williams with 28 points and Toppin with 25. They were unstoppable.
The Motion:
- If you ever doubted Grant McCasland’s coaching ability this morning may be a good time to walk that back. He’s not perfect, but on a short turnaround McCasland and his staff devised an offensive game-plan to beat Drake, but also a defensive game-plan that wasn’t even implemented until a bit into the game, that Drake simply didn’t have an answer for and couldn’t score offensively like they way they are accustomed. I mentioned before the game that the problem with Drake was that they had issues defensively when they lost, but in this game Texas Tech limited Drake to 15 of 37 inside the arc, a very low free throw rate, and just 17% offensive rebounding rate. The 15 of 37 is a season low and essentially letting some Drake players free and not defending them at all, which reduced Drake’s ability to find lanes and easy buckets. /chef’s kiss/
- I don’t want to gloss over Toppin or Williams. Toppin scored 19 on 9 of 10 in the first half alone and was limited to just 6 points in the 2nd half to give him 25 for the game, 12 boards, 1 turnover, and 2 blocks. That hook shot was absolutely killer and just unstoppable and Drake didn’t have an answer for him.
- Williams scored 14 in each half, 6 of 11 in the 1st half and 5 of 8 in the 2nd half, so just really consistent. Add in 6 boards, 5 assists (including a laser to Toppin that was special) and 2 steals.
- I’ve already mentioned Hawkins and his defense, but his 16 points were on 3 of 6 with 10 of 11 coming from the line, 3 boards, 7 assists, and no turnovers in 38 minutes of play. Just masterful.
- Texas Tech averaged 1.305 points per possession and Drake had just 1.103. Both teams had just 5 turnovers and Drake capitalized, 11 points on those 5 turnovers and just 2 for Texas Tech. Texas Tech dominated the boards, 28 to 19. Drake had 24 off the bench to just 3 for Texas Tech. The Red Raiders had 50 points in the paint to just 20 for the Bulldogs.
- Texas Tech’s defense cranked up in the 2nd half, Drake shot 46% in the 1st half, but was held to just 39% in the 2nd and the only reason they were able to stay in the game was the 3-point shooting, which they simply didn’t shoot enough of. Stirtz managed just 6 shots in the 1st half and sort of forced 13 in the 2nd. Drake was determined to get him going, but it wasn’t enough.
- The only concerning thing was that the rest of the team couldn’t manage much of anything. Christian Anderson has had a rough tournament, just 2 of 6 and 1 of 6 from deep, but he played 37 minutes and that was some good defense on his end too. Walton was 0 for 3 and shut-out after going off on the previous game. Overton missed both shots and scored just 20 points. Federiko was pulled because he couldn’t execute the defensive game-plan. I would love to see this team with Chance on the court, but we’ll have to wait and see if that’s something that will happen.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “We are excited to move on, and that’s been our vision for this the whole time,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “One thing I do know, we’ll have Red Raiders in San Francisco. Two things that really stood out to me that we talked about. One was could we keep them off the glass. They only got six offensive rebounds, and one of them was on the free-throw at the end. Then could we not turn the ball over and give them advantage baskets, which I felt like they needed. We only turned the ball over five times. Man, we didn’t make threes, and that just shows the resilience of Darrion Williams and JT Toppin, just to be persistent in the way we put it on the block. It’s an awesome way to win. We have so much respect for Drake and how well prepared they are. They were extremely difficult to beat.”
- Advanced stats had Williams at +30.2, Toppin at +20.0 and Hawkins at +10.9. Overton was -9.5, Anderson -7.6, and Walton -4.6.
- Up next? Texas Tech will face John Calipari and the Arkansas Razorbacks on Thursday, March 27th at the Chase Center, San Francisco, California. Game times not announced just yet.
Highlights