Game Links:
Tortilla Tossin’ Player of the Game: Consideration was given to Jalen Petty for his career high 24 points, but bring me Josiah Moseley who scored 16 points on 7 of 8, 4 boards, an assist, 1 turnover, and he looked like a guy that could fill in for an injured JT Toppin (not replace!).
The Motion:
- Texas Tech didn’t play poorly on the offensive side of the ball in the first half, 58% from the field and 55% from deep, but in the second half Texas Tech shot 70% from the field. Akron got cold a bit as well, 39% in the 1st half, 48% in the second, but just 1 of 8 from deep and 6 turnovers in that 2nd half alone.
- Moseley and Watts certainly helped out those points in the paint, in favor of Texas Tech 38-34. That’s pretty rare for Texas Tech nowadays, but Akron was really pretty small overall. Watts was comfortable posting up and creating underneath, while Moseley was really good moving n the flow of the offense and sort of creating for himself. And Moseley is deceptively long, he had 4 blocks and was really active.
- I think that McCasland was frustrated with Bamgboye. He was fouling a ton and just wasn’t offering the one thing he’s supposed to do, which is rim protection and some inside scoring. At this point, Moseley is a proper forward that probably slips into what McCasland wants to do offensively. Bamgboye is sort of a guy that just has issues on the offensive end and constantly fouling isn’t a defensive presence. That’s an issue.
- Anderson, Atwell, and Petty were all fantastic. Anderson played within himself scoring 18, just 2 turnovers yesterday (that’s a good thing) and 5 assists. He very much played within himself. Petty was even better, 9 of 14 from the field, not just volume shooting 3’s, he was 5 of 7 from deep, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and just 2 turnovers. Atwell was quiet in comparison, scoring 15 points on 5 of 8 with 2 boards and 3 assists, something you hardly see.
- Texas Tech scored 1.444 points per possession while Akron 1.060. The Zip were good offensively, but eventually fell apart on the offensive end in the 2nd half.
- I don’t like the 11 offensive boards that Akron had, but Texas Tech did win the rebounding battle, 32 to 25.
- Tyree Bryan got the minutes after Watts fouled out. And Watts fouled out in the 2nd half with a ton of time left, so someone needed to fill that void. Bryan played 20 minutes, more than he usually does, and he didn’t do a ton, he did play quality defense. He is lost offensively, but if he can play defensively then that will work if Watts is out.
- Head coach Grant McCasland: “We didn’t talk about it, honestly,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “I’ve played in this game as a 13 seed. I try to show them the realities of this. This team’s stinkin’ good. They can put pressure on you. Let’s not make this more than what it is. If you put the number by somebody’s name and try to determine how hard you’re going to play by a number, then you’re dumb. To me, let’s look at what they do well and let’s try to take it away and let’s talk about what we do well that they can’t handle and let’s really focus on that. We focused on game plan, effort, and how do we execute on every possession.”
- Advanced stats: Petty +4.8; Moseley +3.7; Anderson + 3.0; Bryan +2.9; Atwell +2.8; Watts -4.9; and Bamgbyoe -1.5.
- Up next? On to round 2 as Texas Tech takes on Alabama on Sunday, March 22nd at 8:45 p.m. on TBS.
Highlights
Lady Raider Basketball: No. 7 Lady Raiders defeat No. 10 Villanova in Round of 64
Behind a dominant performance from Denae Fritz, the No. 7 Texas Tech Lady Raiders earned their first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2005 after defeating the No. 10 Villanova Wildcats, 57-52, on Friday night at the Maravich Assembly Center.
“Really proud of our kids for staying together, for stepping up and making really big plays when we needed them,” head coach Krista Gerlich said. “I thought that the whole first half, it was just both teams trying to figure out what the other team was doing to them and how to fight through the physicality… And then I thought that in the second half we got our footing under us a little bit in the fourth quarter, and the kids really stepped up to the challenge and had some really big plays. We hit some big shots. We got on the floor first after several loose balls and rebounded it well. So super proud of these kids, and first win in the NCAA tournament in 21 years for the Lady Raider basketball program, and we’re super thrilled to have accomplished that.”
The Lady Raiders (26-7) were led in scoring by Bailey Maupin, who totaled 17 points and went 7-for-7 at the free throw line for her team-best 28th double-figure scoring game of the season. Fritz added 13 points on 83.3 percent shooting from the field (5-for-6) and 3-for-4 shooting from behind the arc (.750) against Villanova (25-8). Fritz added three rebounds and a team-leading three steals and two blocks in the game.