Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: I’ll got with Devan Cambridge who had 17 points on 6 of 10, 7 boards, 2 assists, 0 turnovers, a block, and 2 steals.
The Motion:
- This was a resounding win and pretty unexpected from me. The offense had struggled to look cohesive for the better part of the Villanova and Northern Iowa games, but the offense definitely clicked yesterday in the finale. The usage rates for the team was pretty evenly split between the team, only Pop Isaacs had a rate above 22%. Sharing the ball has benefits.
- Not only that, but the offense has looked better because there’s no double-digit turnovers, only 9 for yesterday and of those 9, 5 were from Isaacs probably trying to do a bit too much. Isaacs is still having problems from deep, 0 fer 7 from beyond the arc and 5 of 18 overall. His best looks were off the dribble and mid-range stuff.
- McCasland hardly went to his bench and when he did he played Chance McMillian for 16 minutes and Kerwin Walton. I like Walton as part of the rotation and think he provides good defense overall.
- The starters all scored in double-figures except for Washington who had 8 and 9 boards. Williams had 13 on an efficient 5 of 9, Toussatint had 17 on 4 of 8 (including 7 of 7 from the charity stripe), and Cambridge had 17 on 6 of 10.
- Texas Tech dominated the boards, 41 to 30. Michigan is a bigger team, but you would not have known that watching this game. Texas Tech also had an advantage with 28 points in the paint to just 22 for the Wolverines.
- Texas Tech also got back to normal in that they made their free throws, 18 of 21.
- Texas Tech clamped down on the defensive side of the ball, 35% in the first half and 22% from deep. Michigan was good in the second half 45% from the field, but so was Texas Tech and never recovered. In fact, Texas Tech shot 40% in the first half and 48% in the second, Michigan’s defense failed them and couldn’t handle the athleticism of Cambridge.
- Toussaint had a weird tournament for me, there were times where I thought that he was trying to do too much and Texas Tech would get into the offense with 12 or 15 seconds remaining and it resulted in rushed shots, especially against Villanova. It was a bit different here against Michigan, I already mentioned the low usage rate, so he wasn’t hold the ball that much and he hit his shots from deep.
- The last stat, Texas Tech had 9 fast break points, which is fine, but held Michigan to just 2.
- Texas Tech’s next game will be on Thursday, November 30th at 5:30 p.m. at the famous Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, home of the movie Hoosiers, as part of the Big 12-Big East Battle. I’m happy to have a bit of a break, the football game with basketball games all scrunched together is difficult to put out content, but I’m happy to have things to do, so no complaints, just difficult for timing purposes.
Highlights