Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: I can’t pick between JT Toppin and Christian Anderson so I’m splitting this. Ander scored 26 on 10 of 17 with 11 assists and 2 turnovers while playing 40 minutes. Toppin was 14 of 22 scoring 30 points with 11 boards. That’s 2 double-doubles.
The Motion:
- I felt that this group just ran out of steam. McCasland said after the game that every momentum play went to Arkansas and Texas Tech simply didn’t do that and I’d agree. And without any size other than JT Toppin, there was literally no size playing a team that has size. It’s sort of inevitable in a way and whether you like it or not, when you play guys 40 minutes, they simply aren’t going to have any juice by the end of the game. The question is why is it like this? There’s a couple of things I’ve thought about: 1) Is this a roster construction thing? 2) Is this a budget thing? Or is it both? I don’t know that I can answer this, but it maybe this is a situation where the cost of Toppin and Anderson was a top-heavy team and the reason you didn’t sign Darrion Williams was maybe because the budget didn’t allow for it. I’d also add that I’m not going to be critical about a budget thing because I’m not exactly helping. As much money as Texas Tech has, I am sure there is a limit and if there is a limit, maybe that affects the ability to fill out a roster. When you have players the caliber of Toppin and Anderson, you have to keep them so I understand that and I’m not faulting that situation at all. I’m sort of just guessing here and am not sure how roster construction works at all, but McCasland has done really well with a top-heavy roster in years past so I’m okay with how that works and we’ll see how things work moving forward. McCasland sees the issues with playing guys like this and expecting full defensive effort without taking any breaks during a game.
- The other thing that’s an issue is that the role players like Tyeree Bryan and Donovan Atwell really don’t create their own shots. They are dependent on others to create and for them to make shots. There was a point during the game when Bryan had not hit a single shot and he’s been in a funk and McCasland was talking to him during a time out and he just looked unhappy. I’m probably reading too much into that, but he’s been in a funk and it showed. Him hitting some shots I hope did his confidence some good. Atwell can make shots, but he is wholly dependent on getting shots from others. I’d also add that a person who can create their own shot is the ultimate step in being just okay and being great. It’s okay that they don’t have that skill, but this is the thing.
- LeJuan Watts is definitely a version of Darrion Williams and as stated above, I don’t know that Texas Tech could sign all three players, but he’s struggling to figure out his way a bit from the standpoint of being a dude versus being a role player. He took 10 shots and made just 3, 2 of them were 3-point makes and I would guess that a lot of those misses were inside where he wasn’t able to get his shot off.
- Free throws are still a thing. I’ll tell you that Texas Tech made 30%, which was 3 of 10, while Arkansas was 17 of 26, so they just got to the line a ton. Texas Tech’s inability to get to the line is a thing and I’m not sure how to solve it. Toppin’s shots are ones where he simply is able to get a shot off without getting fouled. But he was 2 of 7 and Anderson was 1 of 3. That’s all of the free throws and that goes to one of the points above, which is that Atwell and Bryan are not shot makers and are therefore not taking shots where fouls can be generated.
- Bench points? Arkansas had 23, Texas Tech had 8. Speaking of those 8, they were from Jaylen Petty who was feeling it in the 1st half, but that’s sort of a problem is that he’s basically shooting deep 3’s and that’s it (he was 0-5 in the 2nd half and 0-4 from deep). He’s not a good enough shot to just shoot with a green light.
- We just barely talked about it, but Luke Bamgboye was out in concussion protocol and there are sometimes where I have no idea when these injuries occur. Also, no Leon Horner. I have no idea if he’s not playable against an athletic team like Arkansas, but it seemed as if those minutes could have helped in small doses. I’d also add that McCasland will likely always have a pass-first point guard moving forward, which is neither Anderson or Petty. That’s not a knock on them, that’s just not who they are.
- Both teams shot 50%+. Both teams had only 7 turnovers. Arkansas won the rebounding battle by 7. In the 2nd half alone, Arkansas won the battle 25 to 16 and had 10 offensive boards in that 2nd half (compared to just 6 in the 1st half).
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “I thought they were more competitive than we were late in the game and I thought I mismanaged the last 10 minutes,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “I didn’t do a good enough job with our rotations and defensively. We missed some opportunities to really be competitive that I think will allow us to be great. They’re a great team and I think they were more connected than we were late. They scored at a really high rate and we didn’t do a good enough job to make it difficult for them. We’ll get better from it.”
- Advanced Stats: Anderson +4.2; Bryan +0.5; Toppin -0.4; Petty -2.1; Atwell -2.8; Watts -2.9.
- Up next? Texas Tech returns to the United Supermarkets Arena on Tuesday, December 16th to host Northern Colorado with tip-off at 7:00 p.m.
Highlights