Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: I guess I go with JT Toppin here. He had 15 points on 6 of 13 with 8 boards. Toppin is trying to shoot from the outside and he’s not there yet. Not really even close and he’s getting better at passing out of the double-team, but that’s an area that’s going to have to be improved upon greatly because other teams see exactly how to defend him after this week.
The Motion:
- People misuse the word “humble” all the time. People will say that they are humbled to be honored or humbled to receive an offer from a great football or basketball program or humbled to be part of part of a distinguished group. Humbled actually means that you have been lowered in dignity or importance or bring you back to reality. Texas Tech was humbled playing Purdue.
- McCasland was obviously not pleased after this game and there may be some fatal flaws with this team that I don’t know if they can be overcome. I think Christian Anderson is a terrific player and if he can learn to play point guard, he’s going to make himself a lot of money; however, he is not a point guard right now and he would be so much better off the ball. And there’s not a playable big man that can compliment JT Toppin. Marial Akuentok is not there and I don’t think that Luke Bamgboye is there either. That was a huge part of the plan and that’s a huge problem.
- I think that part of the reason why Jaylen Petty is being pushed so much because he’s the only other guy that’s capable of playing point and if Anderson can play off-ball, I think that makes Texas Tech that much more difficult to guard. But Petty also can’t settle for outside shots, especially when it’s not completely reliable. He was 1 of 8 from beyond the arc and 2 of 10 from the field while not shooting a single free throw. That’s not good basketball and if he wants to be the point guard or an off-ball shooter he has to be better.
- The issues with Bamgboye and Akuentok are that they are a bit lost defensively. They give up easy buckets and they should be an anchor. Just looking at Purdue’s big men you see how far away they are from being huge parts of the rotation.
- McCasland said it in his very short press conference that this team settled big-time and were not willing to fight for better shots. Of their 60 shots, 34 were 3-point shots and when you only make 8, that’s a big problem.
- The biggest issue was defensive and just being unable to get stops. It felt like that for a majority of the 1st half and nearly the entirety of the 2nd half was a barrage of points and buckets. Believe it or not, Purdue was just 1 of 5 from beyond the arc in the 2nd half, but was 7 of 9 in the 1st half. For the game, Purdue shot 59% from the field and 57% from deep. Either they were on a heater (which they were) or Texas Tech couldn’t guard them to save their lives. Both things can be true.
- This is also an advanced stats thing, but going to put this here anyway. Purdue had a 99.2% chance of winning this game with 19:41 left in the 2nd half. That’s how dominant Purdue was.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “That was about a bad of a beating as we’ve taken ever. Give Purdue all the credit. They were so efficient in their scoring. I thought we had settled in enough early to get some composure in the 20s with a five-point game and then the floodgates opened in every way. They were getting rhythm shots and offensive rebounding. We got beat on the glass by 18 and when you start to get punched in the mouth like they did to us you have to respond and you have to do it quick, and we didn’t. They executed everything and had us on our heels all night.”
- Advanced Stats (this is BPM Net rather than just BPM, which is what I normally do): Anderson -4.7; Toppin 0.4; Petty -7.0; Atwell 0.7; Bamgboye -0.5; Bryan -3.8; Watts -2.0; and Horner 1.6.
- Up next? Texas Tech hosts New Orleans on Wednesday, November 26th with tip-off at noon and the game broadcast on ESPN+.
Highlights