Game Links
The Motion
- This is merely an opportunity to give you more content because it’s not every day that you beat the No. 1 team in the nation. Dan’s post-game write-up is spot-on and I had asked him to write this when I wasn’t sure if I was going to have the internet service. There’s so much out there in terms of content that I wanted to capture as much of the moment that I could.
- After the game, I Tweeted that this was basketball porn and that is true, this was spectacular basketball and be careful because this team has finally figured out a way to play without Jahmi’us Ramsey. The ball movement was significantly better and Beard’s substitutions for players in foul trouble was also significantly better. The defensive rotations were also significantly better, so yeah, it took some time. And the team will be better as a result of not playing with Ramsey.
- I think that offensively with Ramsey, the team would just watch Ramsey operate and with him being out, the offense was stagnant at first and it took some time, but by last night, the team was cutting and moving with purpose, something that didn’t really happen against Iowa, Creighton, or DePaul. There were open looks and those open looks happened because the ball was moving between players.
- Avery Benson was really great, I mentioned the last game that if Benson is playing significant minutes that this could be very problematic, and maybe the better statement is that if he’s having to play defense against a smaller guard, he’s going to struggle defensively, but him playing against Nwora was a better match-up.
- Texas Tech was just barely behind Louisville with 22-20 points in the paint. Considering the size advantage that Louisville had inside, this is probably totally unacceptable for the Cardinals but great for Texas Tech. Texas Tech also out-rebounded Louisville, 40-38, and that’s just cray, yo. Chris Clarke had 12 boards all by himself (and also 6 assists).
- Chris Beard said after the game that this team played forty full minutes:
“I’m really happy for our players and our program for a lot of reasons,” Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. “At the top of the list of why I’m pleased, is the respect we have for Louisville’s program and coach. I think they’re one of the best teams in college basketball. I’ve watched every game with the players the last two years, and they have that experience factor and talent, and they’re obviously well coached. Tonight, we’re really proud of this victory because we feel like just we played and ultimately beat the scoreboard in a 40 minute game one of the best teams in college basketball. Happy for our guys. This crazy game of basketball – a possession there and possession here. We’re a different team right now. We’ve lost three one possession games, but we’ve just stayed the course.”
- Beard hasn’t tweeted very much, but he did this last night:
Never count out team basketball & toughness. Proud to coach this team. Never Lose Your Chip. #4to1 pic.twitter.com/xVVXEqKqBG
— Chris Beard (@CoachBeardTTU) December 11, 2019
- The locker room:
Feels good, man.
🔴#4To1 | #WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/AOnOBG4HYA
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) December 11, 2019
- More locker room:
Make history, celebrate history.
🔴#4To1 | #WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/yAhQOGAASP
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) December 11, 2019
- Avery Benson crowdsurfing:
Cowboy up. 🤠
🔴@TheRealADB_3 | #WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/g8w2YYpoo9
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) December 11, 2019
- This is a better job. That was the message that Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt said after the game to WatchStadium’s Jeff Goodman:
“We have a better job [than Texas],” Hocutt said moments after Chris Beard and the Red Raiders dispatched No. 1 Louisville, 70-57, without their leading scorer. “No doubt in my mind.”
/snip/
Why not Beard remaining in Lubbock long-term?
For a while, I thought it was a foregone conclusion that he’d bolt for a more prestigious job, one that has enjoyed more tradition. A Top 10 job in the country.
Now I’m not so certain, and neither are those close to Beard.
“He fits in Lubbock, and knows it,” said one person close to Beard.
- Fireside chat with your head coach Chris Beard, NCAA’s Andy Katz and Avery Benson. This is pretty terrific and you should watch this, Beard tells about how or why he recruited Benson.
Have to show off the boots after knocking off the No. 1 team! 😂@TheAndyKatz & Avery Benson (@TheRealADB_3) join @CoachBeardTTU on the New York City edition of the @TexasTechMBB Fireside Chat! pic.twitter.com/oDFJLxjbbX
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) December 11, 2019
- ESPN’s Jeff Borzello wrote after the game that Louisville struggled on both ends of the floor:
Louisville struggled at both ends of the floor, going nearly 10 minutes in the first half without a field goal and shooting just 3-for-17 from 3-point range for the game. Jordan Nwora led the way with 14 points, but the Cardinals’ guards couldn’t get going against Texas Tech’s defense. They turned it over 13 times in the second half.
“They completely negated a lot of the stuff that we wanted to run,” Louisville coach Chris Mack said. “Hopefully, our guys take this as a lesson learned. We’re going to have to grow from this. And it is a lesson learned.”
- NBC Sports’ Rob Dauster loves him some Chris Beard:
Texas Tech have five freshmen on their roster. They have just three eligible players in their program that are not freshmen or sophomores, and two of those three are grad transfers. Only three guys returned from last year’s team, and one of those three is a walk-on. They had just lost three games in a row to unranked teams, and their best player and leading scorer was not healthy enough to play.
Should I mention they were facing off with the No. 1 team in the country, a team that has one of the five best players in the sport and a coach that is as good as anyone?
And if you didn’t know anything about either team entering this game, you would have thought that the 5-3 Red Raiders were actually the nation’s best team while the top-ranked Cardinals were the program in the midst of a rebuild.
As we have become accustomed to under head coach Chris Beard, Texas Tech won this game with their defense. They held Louisville to 34 percent shooting for the game. The Cardinals were 3-for-17 from three. They turned the ball over 19 times and made 18 field goals. Nwora shot 4-for-16 from the floor. It was, to be frank, just as bad as it sounds.
- The Jim Valvano speach is still one of the most moving things I’ve ever watched and to be watching that, while I’m totally excited about the win is so conflicting. It is stop-down television for me and there’s so much good in that speach.