Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: Kerwin Walton, come on down! Walton went 8 of 9 from the field and 6 of 7 from the 3-point line scoring 28 points. The most important thing about what Walton is doing is that he’s locked in defensively and with him hitting outside shots, he’s playing all-around a terrific game. If he’s a legitimate scoring threat, this could be huge.
The Motion:
- This game turned out just like I hoped it would turn out. The starters played about 25 minutes (2 played 30) and this was a blowout win for the good guys. The defense held Omaha to 42% from the field and 27% from beyond the arc. The Mavericks only got to the line 14 times, which was what they were good at and how they scored a lot of their points.
- The offense only turned the ball over 10 times, 5 in each half, which I can live with, and had 1.33 points per possession, which is great. Omaha had 15 turnovers and Texas Tech converted 24 points off of those turnovers.
- Warren Washington had sort of a weird game, couldn’t get a clean look, but he had 12 boards.
- Kyeron Lindsay had his redshirt ripped off (that’s dramatic phrasing) and got a few minutes at the end of the game. Lindsay had been held out the entire year and this doesn’t work like football where he can play 4 games and still get his redshirt year. That means that he’s committed to playing Lindsay this year. After the game, McCasland said that with the Devan Cambridge injury (which McCasland said they didn’t have any result) that Texas Tech would need all hands on deck with the Big 12 coming up.
- Robert Jennings also got a few minutes and Level said that Jennings had been battling an injury, which I didn’t know.
- Joe Toussaint had another good game, scoring 18 on just 8 shots, making 5, 1 of 3 from deep and 7 of 8 from the line. This was not a high assist game from any player, there were only 10 total all game, but this wasn’t a game that felt like the ball wasn’t moving well.
- Pop Isaacs still isn’t hitting anything from deep really, only 1 of 8 last night, but he did score 13 points, but it took 14 shots to get there. He’s struggling to find his shot, but shooters shoot and I don’t want him to stop.
- There’s an advanced stat called Offensive Rating and as an example, Toussaint had an offensive rating of 149. Walton had a rating of 243 if that tells you anything about his efficiency last night.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “After the defensive effort at Butler, I felt like we needed to make some significant improvements. The way that Omaha attacks the basket, they’re one of the best at getting to the free throw line in the country. So, our ability to guard one on one, and to take pride on individually guarding without fouling was a huge part. Honestly, I thought the one guy that set the tone for us was Kerwin (Walton) when he came in the game. I think that led to him playing great offensively. It wasn’t the other way around.”
- Up next? Texas Tech will host Oral Roberts on Tuesday, December 12th at 8:00 p.m.
Highlights