Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: Terrence Shannon, Jr. gets the nod here, although Mac McClung was right there too. Shannon contributed a bit more and was integral in getting Texas Tech even in the game in the second half. 20 points overall, on 7 of 16, 9 rebounds, and 7 turnovers.
The Motion:
- So close. So danged close. A missed assignment by Micah Peavy on defense and the last possession for Kansas and a not-so-good look by Shannon on offense and you get a one-point loss to Kansas at home in a terrific game. And yes, I absolutely loved this game. Also, that was not a situation where I’m blaming Peavy, didn’t lose this game because of him and there were a lot of mistakes in this game.
- The last shot was a bit of a disaster and I think Beard said that the idea wasn’t for Shannon to take that shot, was supposed to either drive or have the option to dish to McClung. Beard was not pleased after this game and it hung around for the post-game press conference. In fact, I would say that Beard was downright pissed after the game. Watch the video below for your own assessment, but he was not pleased, said that the loss was self-inflicted (no disrespect to Kansas) multiple times and was not happy. I think what rankles Beard more than anything is that Texas Tech made it so easy for Kansas to win and he hates that, both on the last KU possession and the last Texas Tech possession where the shot wasn’t clean or what he really wanted.
- If it wasn’t Shannon keeping Texas Tech in this game in the second half, it was Mac McClung who kept Texas Tech in the game in the first half, scoring 13 of his 21 points. McClung’s second half wasn’t great shooting the ball, going 4 of 9 in the 1st and 1 of 7 in the 2nd. McClung played really hard and there wasn’t a ton to fault here. McClung is also nails from the free throw line, hitting 9 of 10.
- The defensive rotations where 99% terrific, the one time they weren’t was the out-of-bounds play to end the game.
- Reasons why Texas Tech should not have been in the game? Texas Tech was 11 of 18 from the free throw line for 61%. Kyler Edwards didn’t score a point and neither did Marcus Santos-Silva. Not 1 point and neither one of them shot a free throw.
- Reasons why Texas Tech as in this game? Only 7 turnovers on the evening compared to 16 for Kansas. Additionally, Texas Tech had 13 offensive boards, which doubled up Kansas, and Texas Tech had 16 second chance points in this game.
- I love Tyreek Smith in the game. He adds something that I really enjoy watching and hope he gets more playing time moving forward. In 21 minutes, he had 4 points, 3 boards, some nice second opportunities for the team, and a pretty spectacular block.
- Kyler Edwards and Marcus Santos-Silva were not exceptional. Edwards played 36 minutes, missed all 9 shot, didn’t take a free throw, had 1 rebound, and 1 assist. Santos-Silva missed both of the shots he too, did grab 5 rebounds, had 3 assists, and no turnovers, in 19 minutes. If Texas Tech gets just a bit of production from their of them in the scoring column, things are probably different.
- Micah Peavy did impress as well, scoring 8 points on 4 of 6, 6 rebounds, 3 of them offensive, and really displayed a significant amount of skill getting boards. He’s going to get better.
- Things . . . How about Mark Adams giving instructions right before half on the defensive end of things and Beard just taking it all in. Sometimes you have to let people do their jobs . . . does Mac McClung get fouled a bit harder more than most players or does it just sell it better? Either way, he always gets up, finishes, and makes his free throws, just interesting . . . the crowd was great and it really does appear that folks are socially distant and sometimes, we all just ask to do our best . . . “Bill Walton has never been this high” was a pretty good little line . . . I get that Jay Bilas isn’t for everyone and he clearly does not like a lot of charging calls . . .
- Going into this game, I thought that Kansas would win, there were too many offensive question marks for me to feel really confident about a win and I still think that’s true. Texas Tech shot 32% from the floor and 26% from the three-point line with 2 three-pointers being made by Shannon who really doesn’t shoot or make them, so that was a bit flukey. The things that can be fixed, free throws, defensive awareness, and offensive rebounding for better shots are things that can be fixed. Kevin McCullar also fixes some of these things too. Get well soon!
- Head coach Chris Beard:
“Give Kansas a lot of credit, it’s what they do,” Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. “You could write a book on how many great games Kansas gets in that are one or two-possession games and what their winning percentage is under Bill Self. It’s amazing and you’ve got to give him a lot of credit. Tonight isn’t one of those that we’ve been in before where we just felt like it came down to the last play.
“I don’t think it should’ve come down to the last play. A lot of this was self-inflicted tonight. We got veteran players that are zeroes across the stat sheet that’s not going to get it done. You’ve got to make free throws in a Big 12 game at home and in an out of bounds play at the end you got to find a way to make the play where the other team doesn’t beat you on a layup. We practice those things and certainly during the timeout we were talking about that the whole time. Give Kansas credit, we just didn’t get it done. Didn’t coach well enough, didn’t play well enough down the stretch.”
- Up next? Oklahoma on Tuesday, December 22nd at 6:00 p.m. with the game being broadcast on ESPN2.
Highlights