Iowa State 82, Texas Tech 80
- Couldn’t get off the danged shot. That was maybe the theme of the night for Texas Tech. Texas Tech had a chance to win the game and the shot came too late, an opportunity to either tie or win the game and time expired before Texas Tech could get a shot off to win the danged game. In fact, there seemed to be plenty of lost opportunities for easy buckets, layups or inside opportunities. A two-on-one fastbreak was thrown away and other small opportunities that never came to fruition. Here’s head coach Chris Beard on that last shot:
“We foul the right guy, we block out, we play the game right, we don’t have any timeouts left and maybe that’s my mistake,” Beard said. “I’ll take the responsibility for that. We come down – one of the best players I’ve ever coached (Keenan Evans) doesn’t make the play. I will take the ball in Keenan Evans’ hands every time for as long as I coach here. That’s what I saw in the last play.”
- I never would have thought that Keenan Evans would have had the game that he did, he went 1 for 10, including 0-4 from the free throw line. Evans had a terrible game from the field, including rushed shots down the stretch, a forced shot underneath the basket as the game was winding down. He did help control the game as he didn’t have a turnover and the team only had 6 turnovers all night.
- And I suppose you can either blame just Evans, but the offense only shot 39% from the floor and I wrote in the preview that I thought that they would shoot better from the field at home. That didn’t happen.
- I am a bit down after last night. I thought Texas Tech would play better and they didn’t. They didn’t guard the three-point line and that’s something that will absolutely kill you with Iowa State as they made 12 of 24 from the three-point line. I still somewhat marvel that Texas Tech was even able to get to overtime, but when Texas Tech made it to the extra period, it seemed as if Smith rushed a few shots, who again is struggling to hit shots. It seems like it’s been way too long since we’ve seen him bring down the house with some follow up dunks.
- I thought the foul that ended up being Justin Gray’s 5th foul was a terrible call and I don’t normally complain about officiating and the situation where Iowa State got the ball back after it was stuck between the rim and the backboard was just one of those things where Texas Tech did everything that they could have done. Sometimes, it just doesn’t fall your way.
- Niem Stevenson led all scorers with 17 points on 7 of 16 (not a great shooting night from him) including 2 of 5 from the three-point line, 2 of 5 from the line, and 7 boards. Gray had 16 points on 5 of 9 with 3 boards an assist and a turnover. Smith also had 16 points on 6 of 18 from the floor, including 3 of 6 from the free throw line, 10 rebounds, an assist and 3 turnovers. Devon Thomas also played well, controlling the game as well, scoring 6 points, 3 boards and 3 assists without a turnover.
- Aaron Ross got the start over Anthony Livingston and I do think that those two are essentially interchangeable. Livingston just shot three-point shots when he entered the game, going 1-3 and Ross did the same thing, all four of his shots were three-point shots.
- Head coach Chris Beard:
“I saw a team that fights their asses off and has been in a lot of close games,” Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. “They represent their school well, their town. The guys go to class every day and do the right thing. We also have a coaching staff that believes in their players. We find ourselves in another one possession game, and we try to play it to the bone.”
- Next up is Oklahoma State at GIA in Stillwater at 1:00 p.m. This isn’t going to be a good match-up for Texas Tech, but here we go.