Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: I’m sharing this tortilla with JT Toppin, who scored 27 points on 11 of 18 from the field with 12 boards, 5 offensive, 1 block, 2 steals, and 2 turnovers. The other guy? Donovan Atwell who went 1 of 5 from the field and scored just 5 points, with 2 boards, but his defense on AJ Dybantsa was absolutely terrific. It’s so hard to play a guy like Dybantsa and not foul and Dybantsa only shot 1 free throw all night long.
The Motion:
- McCasland and Linder did something interesting, which was basically a double-screen at the top, usually by Jaylen Petty to switch the man from Christian Anderson and then by JT Toppin with another possible switch and then Anderson was able to operate a lot more efficiently. I don’t know why BYU kept switching, maybe they were really good screens, but Texas Tech knew that once they could start their actions, the defender that they wanted on Anderson would eventually get removed. And the staff has also evolved Petty, who was stuck in the corner to being the first screener to get a better match-up for Anderson so they are trusting him a bit more as well. Pretty fun offensively.
- LeJuan Watts had the quietest 20 points and 8 rebounds that I think I ever remember, and he did it shooting really just fine, 6 of 13 from the floor, 2 steals, 2 assists and 4 turnovers (not all were his fault). I looked up and couldn’t believe he had 20, but he had some wonky possessions and missed a dunk, but he forgot about all of those and finished the night with 20. There was also one shot of him on the bench and McCasland where Watts was really upset at himself for missing something (I have no idea what it was). It means something to him.
- Toppin was unbelievable in the 2nd half. That 1st half, he missed a few short shots, went 4 for 9, but in the 2nd half BYU didn’t have any answers, he was 7 of 9 from the floor and scored 17 of his 27 points in the 2nd half including 2 from deep. I have no idea if he’s finding his range, but that would be nice.
- Texas Tech found itself down by 9 with 9:26 left. It was sort of a mess for a few minutes, but Watts hit a 3 and then Texas Tech came back with jumpers from Petty, who also was fouled on a 3-pointer, Toppin made an and-1, and then a 3 after a BYU bucket and then Texas Tech never looked back because Watts and Anderson each hit 3’s and BYU was shook after that.
- At the very end of McCasland’s press conference, he talked about the 1996 team that was honored at halftime, the best team that’s ever played for Texas Tech, only losing 2 games all year long, and he said that the reason the United Supermarkets Arena is here is because of that team, that the administration realized that they needed something bigger. That’s some nice recognition.
- A few stats, Texas Tech actually went to the line, which was huge, 19 of 23 overall, so they didn’t just get to the line, but made them, 83%. Scored 16 points off of turnovers to 9 for BYU. BYU had 40 points in the paint to just 28 for Texas Tech. The Texas Tech defense held the Cougars to 23% from deep, just 5 of 22. They didn’t get a ton of good looks from deep, while Texas Tech made 38%, 11 of 29. BYU also only had 5 assists to Texas Tech’s 13, 7 of them by Anderson.
- Texas Tech had 0 bench points. Every starter played 35 minutes or more, Anderson and Toppin played 40.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “Obviously a super talented BYU team who had us on the ropes. The energy in the United Supermarkets Arena is just hard to describe to people until you experience it. The will to win in the building and LeJuan gave us a lift with his 3. Our guys believed we were going to win the game but we had to do it in a very defensive way. The last 10 minutes we probably played the best defense we’ve played this year. For as many minutes as our guys played, the grit shows a ton about the compete level of JT Toppin, Christian Anderson and how it’s just oozing throughout the rest of the guys. We are believing we can win no matter what it takes.”
- Advanced Stats: Anderson +5.8; Toppin +5.5; Watts +1.0; Groves +0.7; Horner +0.0; Atwell -3.1; Bryan -2.1; and Petty -1.3.
- Up next? Texas Tech hits the road to play Baylor on Tuesday, January 20th with tip-off at 8:00 p.m. and broadcast on Peacock.
Highlights