Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: On the night they gave away his jersey, JT Toppin scored 31 points on 14 of 23, including 3 of 4 from deep, 13 rebounds, 5 blocks, 7 assists, 1 steal and 3 turnovers. That’s filling a box score.
The Motion:
- I don’t subscribe to Peacock so I didn’t watch this game. I should add that a week from yesterday, Texas Tech is in Waco to play Baylor and that game is also on Peacock and that’s the only two games on that channel. I’m okay missing two games in exchange not signing up for a streaming service.
- The spacing was really a lot better offensively and I don’t know that I noticed this previously, but they had Atwell just one pass away on the Toppin pass out and to have both Anderson and Atwell closer makes life easier on those double-teams. I am pretty sure that was an adjustment, but without seeing the entire game it’s tough to tell.
- With Christian Anderson being a pass away, he had a ton of open looks, 9 of 16 from the field including 6 of 11 from deep, 10 assists, 3 boards, 2 blocks, and 3 turnovers. It looked easy.
- Overall, the defense held Utah to 43% from the field, but Utah was hitting shots outside, making 12 of 25, and that really didn’t change from half to half, 47% in the 1st and 50% from the 2nd. The difference is that Utah didn’t have a lot of opportunities in the 2nd half, just 8, while they shot 17 in the 1st. The reason why Utah stayed in this game was that they were 10 of 13 from the charity stripe.
- Texas Tech shot really well in the 1st half, 57% from the field including 44% from deep. Things fell down just a bit in the 2nd, 46% and 39% from beyond the arc. That’s over 1.2 points per possession, which is pretty darned great overall.
- The bench was almost non-existent, Nolan Groves got 3 minutes in the 1st half, but it looked like Utah went at him pretty quickly and Akuentok had just 1 minute. So it was Tyeree Bryan who was really the only bench player and we keep hoping that at some point the bench will make an impact.
- Some traditional stats to consider. Texas Tech out-rebounded Utah 41 to 28. Texas Tech had 36 points in the paint to just 24 for Utah. Bench points was in favor of Utah, 18 to 2. Texas Tech had 8 blocks and Utah had none. Texas Tech had 22 assists to just 10 for Utah.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “I’ve been asked if I’ve coached a better duo than Christian and JT. What I’ll tell you is that I’m more thrilled with how they’re become the anchor of how we’re defending people. JT with five blocks and Christian with two. His integrity of how he’s guarding the ball and moving his feet right now is just tremendous. He’s seeing it and flowing to the ball the right way. I know everyone wants to talk about what they’re doing offensively, but to me, the way JT is hedging and moving and the way those two guys are competing defensively is the difference in our team. They’re competing and playing the right way.”
- Advanced Stats: Toppin +12.8; Anderson +7.6; Atwell -0.2; Bryan -0.5; Petty -5.2; Watts -6.2. Also, a huge shout-out to T-Rank, which McCasland mentioned after the game, referencing how the defense has been a top-10 defense the past 6 games and are improving.
- Up next? Texas Tech hosts No. 11 BYU on Saturday, January 17th, with tip-off at 7:00 p.m. and the game broadcast on ESPN.
Highlights