Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: I’m going with Joe Toussaint, who finished with 16 points, on 5 of 15 (not great) and 1 of 7 from deep, 3 boards, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, and 2 steals while playing 40 minutes. He gave everything he had.
The Motion:
- After the game, Joe Toussaint said that they, the team, brought a team that was dead-last in the Big 12 to the NCAA Tournament. That’s 100% true and something that at this point I don’t know that I want to be reminded of, but it probably should because this program was an absolute dumpster fire last year. If you had asked me that this team finish in the top half of the Big 12 was a good goal, but McCasland and this group really defied expectations for me. I didn’t think that this was a team that was going to finish top half, lost a starter at the beginning of the season and was still so good. It sucks this morning, but I could not be happier and more proud about where the direction of the program.
- Some figures. NC State was dominant in the paint, 42 to 20, and then add in 26 free throws to just 14 for Texas Tech and that’s your game. Texas Tech had no answer for NC State, a team that didn’t typically get to the line, definitely made it a point to get to the line, Middlebrooks was the guy I didn’t foresee getting 21 points in 23 minutes.
- The defense was pretty abysmal, I don’t know if it was a situation where Warren Washington having not played that the rotations were supposed to be, but Washington looked a bit lost sometimes and if I had one wish, it would be to have a couple of bigger guys because Texas Tech didn’t have an answer for Burns, Middlebrooks, and Diarra.
- the other thing that I don’t think that Texas Tech was ready for, which was the NC State defense. The Wolfpack didn’t guard the 3-point line really all season, but they were lights out against Texas Tech and I don’t think the Red Raiders really had an answer getting open. Texas Tech made just 23% of their 3-point shots, just 21% in the 1st half and 24% in the 2nd half. Without a post game to keep NC State honest, they had no reason to drop off the perimeter.
- Texas Tech really needed either Pop Isaacs or Joe Toussaint to be on-point and that didn’t happen. Isaacs was 2 of 8 in the 1st half and 1 of 8 in the 2nd half while Toussaint was 5 of 10 in the 1st half (that’s fine) but missed all 5 shots in the 2nd. I guess the theory is that if you’re going to go down, go down with the ones who brought you. No one else was getting shots off and that’s a credit to NC State.
- If you would have told me that Texas Tech only had 10 turnovers I would not have believed you.
- Walton, Jennings, McMillian, and Washington basically played okay, but didn’t shoot enough. Walton didn’t get a shot off until Texas Tech was trying a desperate comeback and was 3 of 5, Jennings was 2 of 2, McMillian was 4 of 9 (but missed all 4 3-point shots), and Washington was 3 of 4. Maybe they should have been the ones that took more shots.
- Advanced stats and the box score +/- said that Walton was the best player at +11.0, then Jennings +4.9, Williams +4.8, Toussaint +1.2, and McMillian +0.2. The negatives were Isaacs at -10.9 and Washington at -0.5.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “Early, I thought NC State did a great job defending us, and our threes in the first half were difficult,” McCasland said. “We didn’t share the ball well enough the first half and I felt like we needed a few paint touches. We needed to have more patience and create multiple paint touch opportunities to get threes. We looked at it at halftime and I thought we made a few adjustments, but we couldn’t guard them in the second half and then we got on our heels because of their point production and hit the panic button a little bit and give them credit they got to the free throw line and made free throws. They shot 80 percent from the free throw line. It was kind of that double combo. We got down, and I thought we had a little better flow to us offensively during that stretch, just couldn’t get stops.”
- Up next? “I just believe honestly we’ll compete for a National Championship. I believe it’ll be soon. I love the administration. I love the students at Texas Tech. I love the community of Lubbock, and our family loves it and I can’t be more excited about where we’re going and what we’re going to do. I do believe that the best days are ahead of us and I’m thankful for Joe and Warren and their investment in trusting us because they set the foundation to move this forward.”
Highlights