Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: Luke Bamgboye finally broke out and I think it is important to note that New Orleans had size so it was good to watch him deal with that. Bamgboye was 3 of 5 from the field, 7 of 10 from the line, 5 boards, 4 assists, and 4 blocks.
The Motion:
- It seemed as if that the intent was to play these guys as much as humanly possible, especially Bamboye to get him time playing with everyone else. It’s why he was in the game so late and why the starters were in the game until the last few minutes of a blowout game. McCasland had to get him rolling and get him meaningful minutes to know his teammates. I’m glad he did that.
- Leon Horner had to get minutes because Donovan Atwell fouled out and I’m ready to declare Horner a dawg without having seen very much playing time. I don’t remember the exact moment, but there was something that happened in the 2nd half and there was a hard foul or something and a snarl across Horner’s face formed and maybe it’s just better to put Horner on dawg alert. Horner aly had 2 points and 3 assists, which I’m more than happy with.
- The other big story was LeJuan Watts and after the game, McCasland said that Watts hasn’t been giving his full effort defensively and McCasland has challenged him to be better and play with defensive effort every play and the shots will fall. Watts finished just 2 of 11, but had 12 points because he was 7 of 10 from the line, along with 8 rebounds.
- Someone asked (I believe it was Sean Dillon) if Christian Anderson could play 37 minutes and McCasland said absolutely yes. Anderson was a little uneven for me, but I think he was exactly who I think he is. He was a terrific shooter yesterday, 8 of 13 from the field and 6 of 9 from deep, but he had 5 turnovers to go along with 4 assists.
- JT Toppin was his normal self, very good down low, but had some free throw issues. Regardless, I tend to think that an 19 point and 16 rebound effort is normal and it’s really not. Add in 9 offensive rebounds and that’s a big reason why Texas Tech dominated New Orleans.
- Tyeree Bryan took 1 shot, but had 6 rebounds and thought he played really good defense. Donovan Atwell had 13 points on 5 of 9 from the field, but fouled out on what was at times bad calls and also aggressive defense. I think he got the memo and I’m good with that. A couple of other numbers to consider, which is that Texas Tech was 44% from the field and 46% from deep while holding New Orleans to just 13% from beyond the arc. Benson was just 2 of 10 and that was their leading scorer. Texas Tech was 6 of 15 in layups. Texas Tech dominated the boards, 47 to 30.
- I think we are seeing the tightening of the rotation with Bryan, Anderson, Bamgboye, Atwell, Toppin, Watts, Petty and Horner. That’s 8 deep for the most part and I am still hopeful about Josiah Moseley, but have not heard any updates about him. I think he would be a useful part of the rotation.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “Obviously, we’re really thankful with it being Thanksgiving to compete here at home. We had a couple of good practices coming into this one and our team continues to improve. That’s a good team and they’re going to win a lot of games. I thought our defense made a big jump today and our competitiveness was better. We were more connected on the offensive end.”
- Advanced Stats (these are Net numbers): Anderson +8.5; Bamgboye +9.4; Toppin +2.7; Atwell +3.3; Horner +2.7; Bryan -1.9; Watts -5.9; and Petty -8.7.
- Up next? Texas Tech will host Wyoming on Sunday, November 30th with tip-off at 2:00 p.m. and the game on ESPN+.
Highlights