Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: Despite the free throws, I’m going with Toppin. He scored 27 on 11 of 18 from the field (he shot better from the field than at the line, 5 of 12 from the charity stripe, 9 boards, an assist, 3 turnovers, and 2 steals.
The Motion:
- I don’t know. I just don’t know what to think about this team. I’m not even talking about the free throws, which are a separate issue, the thing that I can’t figure out is if this team is playing down to their competition or if the competition is better than I expected. What should have been an easy win was a really close game, but to be honest, I was really impressed with Wyoming, those guards were fantastic and the thought process to guard Anderson for the entire floor was smart and I don’t know if it affected Anderson necessarily, but it did affect how quickly Texas Tech was able to get into their offense.
- Texas Tech essentially would have won by 10 if Toppin had his his free throws. I’m not going to complain about this too much. He’s been fine previously, but he’s in a funk and those things happen. And it’s not because he’s not practicing them, it sometimes happens and I’m not overly concerned about it. Besides, Texas Tech doesn’t win this game without Toppin making 11 of 18 from the field and grabbing 9 boards. Last year Toppin made 67% and this year it is 48%, there’s plenty of room for improvement.
- We’ll get to the good stuff in a second, but Texas Tech really didn’t get much from Tyeree Bryan or Donovan Atwell this game. Bryan has a windup to his shot that’s weird and I’m not sure about it. I know that he could and has contributed in other ways, but he didn’t yesterday. Atwell is cranking things up defensively, so the fact that he had just 7 points with 4 rebounds, 0 turnovers, 2 steals, and an assist is fine. I think he’s got more to give when he’s hitting from deep, but he didn’t really have clean looks and Wyoming was ready for him.
- Same thing with Luke Bamgboye, really didn’t get much from him and he’s still working on defensive rotations. He missed all 3 of his shots, had 5 boards, 2 turnovers (a bad pass that he should have known wasn’t going to work), 2 blocks and a steal.
- LeJuan Watts looks much better and I liked this game from him. McCasland mentioned after the game that he needs to do a better job of getting him the ball to run the offense and I agree with that.
- Leon Horner is a dog and I wish he was a step quicker, or maybe he had a bad matchup and he just wasn’t able to stay in front of his man at times, hence the 4 fouls. Regardless, he will play good minutes for this team.
- We barely mentioned Anderson, but he was terrific down the stretch and I almost feel that he needs to take more shots. He managed just 3 3-point shots, making 1, and had 15 points, 3 boards, 5 assists, and 2 turnovers. Anderson played all 40 minutes. Without Jaylen Petty, there weren’t a ton of options.
- Texas Tech had just 10 turnovers and Wyoming had 13. Texas Tech had the advantage in the paint, 38 to 30. Both teams had 33 boards.
- Advanced Stats (BPM and DBPM Net): Watts +5.7; Toppin +2.9; Atwell +1.1; Anderson -0.4; Horner -0.5; Bamgboye -1.8; and Bryan -4.9.
- Up next? Texas Tech and LSU meet in on Sunday, December 7th at 2:00 p.m. at Dickey’s Arena in Fort Worth.
Highlights