Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: I am going out on a limb here, but I’m giving this to Robert Jennings. It’s not the best box score, but he was really impactful and maybe his best game I’ve seen him play. He’s improved so much. Jennings was 3 of 4 from the field with 8 points, 7 boards, a steal, and 5 fouls. Used them all up. To battle those Baylor bigs at 6’7″ is tough.
The Motion:
- That’s a pretty big win, a terrific exclamation point on a season that was marred with injury and I’m shocked how many games this team won given the injuries. It’s coaching and the players executing those plays. Texas Tech finished with the same record than every team other than Houston and Iowa State and finished with a better record than BYU, Kansas, Texas, TCU, and Kansas State. Texas Tech was picked to finish 7th and greatly exceeded those expectations, especially given the injuries.
- This is actually pretty easy for me as to the “why” Texas Tech won this game. Texas Tech held Baylor, the best 3-point shooting team in the nation, to 1 of 8 from deep (13%) in the first half and a bit better in the second, 4 of 13 for 31%. That’s what got Texas Tech out to the early lead, that and hitting their own shots on offense, 48% from the field and 30% from the 3-point line.
- Baylor would battle back and I wasn’t sure that Texas Tech would have enough juice to keep it going, but they did. Texas Tech hit only 4 3-pointers in the second half and they all came right in a row, each one a nail in the coffin.
- Texas Tech crushed Baylor on the boards, a 40 to 29 advantage. Again, with Baylor’s bigs, that’s huge. Points in the paint were pretty even, 34-32 in favor of Baylor, and Texas Tech had 15 assists to just 8 for Baylor. They just didn’t pass the ball enough.
- Darrion Williams had 16 points 11 boards, yet another double-double, with 2 assists, a steal, and 2 turnovers. Just a load inside and has old-man post moves (that’s a compliment). To compliment the bigs all in one point, Eemeli Yalaho came through again, 3 of 4 from the field, 7 points, 3 boards, a steal and an assist.
- Joe Toussaint sort of struggled a bit, 3 of 12 from the field, but with other players picking things up, it was okay. And really, Isaac’s first half is what helped him, 5 of 10 and 2 of 5 from deep, while just getting 1 of 4 shots in the second half.
- Those second half stats are really strange in that Texas Tech was highly efficient, 50% from the field and 40% for 3-pointers, while making 77% of their free throws. The only thing that held the offense back was 8 2nd half turnovers, otherwise this would have been a 20-point win.
- Advanced stats and the box score +/- say that the best players were Williams at +17.1, McMillian +13.1, Yalaho +12.4, Jennings +10.5, Isaacs +4.0, and Walton +0.0. The only negative was Toussaint at -8.9.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “I loved our defense, especially early in the first half how we stretched out the lead. Give Baylor credit. Coach Drew knows what he’s doing. They put pressure on us and were getting to the foul line. Finally, we were able to punch back and hit a couple of big shots. We broke the game open by getting stops and getting out in transition. That’s been the mark of our team. When we make 3s in transition, we are tough to defend. I’m thrilled with how the game finished and thankful to be part of this team. It was an awesome atmosphere and home season. Great way to finish the regular season.”
- Up next? Texas Tech earned the 4th seed and has the double-bye, which means that the Big 12 Tournament starts on Tuesday with the first round, then on Wednesday for the second round teams will play, but Texas Tech won’t play until Thursday. That’s a good long time to get healthy. At this point, the conference Tournament doesn’t matter. Texas Tech is in the NCAA Tournament and should be a higher seed than what they are projected, but those are not things I can change.
Highlights