Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: This should really go to Kevin Obanor who had 13 on 6 of 8 with 7 boards, 2 assists, and 3 turnovers, but I sort of want to give this to the transfer who sat out all last year, Jaylon Tyson, who also finished with 13 points on 6 of 11, 3 rebounds and a turnover.
The Motion:
- The defense is still really good, holding Texas Southern to 35% from the field and 22% from deep. Those are good statistics, especially when Texas Southern had 14 offensive rebounds, that’s a lot of second chance opportunities, but TSU only had 1 second chance point all night. That’s pretty good, which again means that the defense is truly clamping down.
- The turnovers were a problem again, especially in the first half where there were 8 and then 4 in the second half, so definitely improvement. Pop Isaacs led the team with 4, some of them are just weird passes, maybe passes he got away with in high school, but just isn’t getting away with here. My kid will sometimes make those flip passes and as he’s getting older he’s learning that he can’t do that so I get the maturation aspect of just playing and figuring it out.
- As a team, Texas Tech shot 46%, which is fine and 29% from deep. Those 3-point shots weren’t open looks, which means that I think the offense is still figuring out how to get open looks when teams are playing you tight along the line. That obviously opened things up inside, 42 of the 78 points were in the paint, which is good.
- The freshmen continue to impress and aren’t afraid of the moment. Isaacs started again and didn’t shoot well, only 1 of 8 and mentioned 4 turnovers. I’m still enamored with Lamar Washington, Robert Jennings, and Elijah Fisher. They all do things really well and I’m still figuring out what they do well. Fisher finished with 7 points, Jennings had 3 boards so there are contributions for sure.
- Daniel Batcho only played 16 minutes and head coach Mark Adams said after the game that because Texas Southern played small, Batcho didn’t see as much time, but KJ Allen did get 20 minutes as a quasi-center. I’m good with that, but I hate to see Batcho essentially played off the court the second game against Texas Southern. There’s part of me that thinks that Batcho really can’t be played off the court because of his athleticism.
- I think we’re seeing Kerwin Walton be the 6th man, he finished with 24 minutes and I think that’s going to be the plan for the most part.
- I’ve made it all this way without talking about De’Vion Harmon who finished with 12 points on 3 of 6, 6 of 8 from the floor, 3 boards, 3 assists, and 0 turnovers. He had an attaching game and the thing I’m just not sure about is that outside shot. Regardless, his energy is infectious and that’s absolutely going to be key for this team.
- Up next? Louisiana Tech on Monday, November 14th at 7:00 p.m. at the United Supermarkets Arena. After that, the team heads to Hawaii for the Maui Jim Invitational during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Highlights