At some point this season it will probably happen that the Red Raiders play all phases of the scoring game at a high level, and in that same game or games the defense will continue to play well. Someone is going to get a big time knockout punch, and I think Tech has too many guys who can score the basketball for this to not happen.
Starting at the free throw line, an issue is McCullar. He's played two full games less than anyone else except Shannon and yet he leads the team in free throw attempts. He's only hitting 61% - that's bad. He handles the ball a lot so he is going to get fouled a lot, if that's going to pay off for Tech he needs to be better at the line. Other guys needing work are Adonis Arms (.583) and Marcus Santos-Silva (.474). Santos-Silva draws a lot of fouls - he's tied for 4th on the team in attempts despite being 8th on the team in minutes played. His body of work does not lend confidence that he can work any harder than he has to improve his free throws.
On the plus side, other than these three the Raiders are not terrible from the stripe at all. Guys who get to the line on the regular are shooting .778 (Warren), .850 (Shannon), .737 (Williams), .714 (Batcho), .833 (Obanor), .700 (Nadolny). Of players not listed with at least 10 attempts, there is only one and that's Wilson shooting .600.
From the arc the Raiders are shooting .346 as a team, good for 140th in the country. There are about 350 D1 teams, so .346 is not bad at all. Shannon leads the team in attempts per game at 6.0 and is shooting .367, so above the team average. As a measuring stick, hitting .333 from the arc is the same point production as hitting .500 from inside the arc. Obanor is shooting .372 from the arc on 5.4 attempts per night. McCullar is right at .333 and third on the team with 4.0 shots a game. Warren leads the team at .444 and gets 2.3 attempts a game. I don't care for some of the shot selection but overall I don't have a lot of complaints about long range shooting. I'd love to see all these guys get more catch-and-shoot opportunities as opposed to Shannon and McCullar shooting contested pull up jumpers, and I think we will start to see more catch and shoot.
Shooting inside the arc is pretty solid, Tech is 83rd overall at .542. Santos-Silva, Williams, Shannon, and Batcho are all in the .580 - 590 range. Batcho doesn't shoot much so we'll toss him out here, but Williams and Shannon lead the team in attempts and makes. Santos-Silva is 5th on the team in attempts. Only 4 players shooting under .500 and one of those is Obanor, he's only 13-31 from inside the arc. Nadolny is 0-1 on the season from inside the arc.
I think we all are waiting for a prime offensive night from Texas Tech and I think we'll see it at some point. Whatever team(s) are up against that, combined with Tech's defense, well that's going to be a long, long night. The worst perimeter defense I've seen so far remaining on Tech's schedule is TCU, West Virginia, and Texas. Man I would love a clean sweep right there! Note I have not seen Alabama State nor Mississippi State play.
Item 2: I'm going to miss every second of the Gonzaga game. Thanks Christmas with out of state family!
Item 3: I moved ISU up a spot in my own Big 12 poll, and dropped WVU a spot. Everyone else I left the same. I want to drop Texas but I'm going to need more than a neutral court OT loss to a stout Seton Hall team to do that. I think Baylor and Kansas are noticeably better than anyone else right now, and Kansas State and TCU are noticeably worse. I really do think that Texas Tech is the only team right now that could challenge Baylor and Kansas because of the Raider defense.
Baylor
Kansas
Texas
Texas Tech
OU
OSU
ISU
WVU
KSU
TCU
End communication unit.
Starting at the free throw line, an issue is McCullar. He's played two full games less than anyone else except Shannon and yet he leads the team in free throw attempts. He's only hitting 61% - that's bad. He handles the ball a lot so he is going to get fouled a lot, if that's going to pay off for Tech he needs to be better at the line. Other guys needing work are Adonis Arms (.583) and Marcus Santos-Silva (.474). Santos-Silva draws a lot of fouls - he's tied for 4th on the team in attempts despite being 8th on the team in minutes played. His body of work does not lend confidence that he can work any harder than he has to improve his free throws.
On the plus side, other than these three the Raiders are not terrible from the stripe at all. Guys who get to the line on the regular are shooting .778 (Warren), .850 (Shannon), .737 (Williams), .714 (Batcho), .833 (Obanor), .700 (Nadolny). Of players not listed with at least 10 attempts, there is only one and that's Wilson shooting .600.
From the arc the Raiders are shooting .346 as a team, good for 140th in the country. There are about 350 D1 teams, so .346 is not bad at all. Shannon leads the team in attempts per game at 6.0 and is shooting .367, so above the team average. As a measuring stick, hitting .333 from the arc is the same point production as hitting .500 from inside the arc. Obanor is shooting .372 from the arc on 5.4 attempts per night. McCullar is right at .333 and third on the team with 4.0 shots a game. Warren leads the team at .444 and gets 2.3 attempts a game. I don't care for some of the shot selection but overall I don't have a lot of complaints about long range shooting. I'd love to see all these guys get more catch-and-shoot opportunities as opposed to Shannon and McCullar shooting contested pull up jumpers, and I think we will start to see more catch and shoot.
Shooting inside the arc is pretty solid, Tech is 83rd overall at .542. Santos-Silva, Williams, Shannon, and Batcho are all in the .580 - 590 range. Batcho doesn't shoot much so we'll toss him out here, but Williams and Shannon lead the team in attempts and makes. Santos-Silva is 5th on the team in attempts. Only 4 players shooting under .500 and one of those is Obanor, he's only 13-31 from inside the arc. Nadolny is 0-1 on the season from inside the arc.
I think we all are waiting for a prime offensive night from Texas Tech and I think we'll see it at some point. Whatever team(s) are up against that, combined with Tech's defense, well that's going to be a long, long night. The worst perimeter defense I've seen so far remaining on Tech's schedule is TCU, West Virginia, and Texas. Man I would love a clean sweep right there! Note I have not seen Alabama State nor Mississippi State play.
Item 2: I'm going to miss every second of the Gonzaga game. Thanks Christmas with out of state family!
Item 3: I moved ISU up a spot in my own Big 12 poll, and dropped WVU a spot. Everyone else I left the same. I want to drop Texas but I'm going to need more than a neutral court OT loss to a stout Seton Hall team to do that. I think Baylor and Kansas are noticeably better than anyone else right now, and Kansas State and TCU are noticeably worse. I really do think that Texas Tech is the only team right now that could challenge Baylor and Kansas because of the Raider defense.
Baylor
Kansas
Texas
Texas Tech
OU
OSU
ISU
WVU
KSU
TCU
End communication unit.
