It was good to get a game like that out of the way and one that is almost necessary to have to see what your team is really made of. I believe a game like this tells you a lot more about the culture McCasland is trying to build here than what we saw the other night.
It was disgusting. Almost an atrocity to basketball what we were watching today at the USA. There were open looks galore, many of which were not falling for either side, and despite how poor of a game it was from the two teams, the Red Raiders were able to grind it out and really just looked like they wanted it more.
The turning point today was rooted in the play of Joe Toussaint getting Tech’s first three-pointer on the board, and then backing that up with an and-one layup on the return trip up the floor.
Darrion Williams put up another strong performance, he is putting the versatility on display that got me excited to watch him play.
38 points in the paint tonight, which was massive in a game where it seems like none of your looks from the outside are falling, and they weren’t for 33 minutes. It is incredibly annoying when something like that is happening, but Tech had the down low looks to fall back on and that ultimately saved them today.
A major catalyst behind all of that was Devan Cambridge, who led all scorers with 15. I was not super impressed with Cambridge against Commerce but tonight he was in a good rhythm, a lot of that as a result of his awareness when it came to cutting to the basket. Several times we saw him receive shovel passes and dump-offs that led to layups. He was finding the space in the defense when the helper would collapse and that freed him up to contribute a good game.
There is plenty to be upset about, 3-16 from three is ugly, 23-59 from the field is gross. I was really confused at times what they were trying to get going on offense, primarily because I felt guys were falling in love with passing the ball too much. Sharing the ball is important, without a doubt, but passing needs to lead somewhere, whether that be downhill or drive-and-kick. We saw a little bit of that towards the end, which is when the game swung in Tech’s favor, but a more refined performance will be needed to compete in the Bahamas and in the Big 12.
I’ll give Tech credit though, for essentially holding the Spartans without a real bucket (I’m not counting the goal tend) for the last seven minutes. A shooting team will keep shooting and the shots will fall eventually, but establishing this gritty mentality early will help this team in the long run.
It was disgusting. Almost an atrocity to basketball what we were watching today at the USA. There were open looks galore, many of which were not falling for either side, and despite how poor of a game it was from the two teams, the Red Raiders were able to grind it out and really just looked like they wanted it more.
The turning point today was rooted in the play of Joe Toussaint getting Tech’s first three-pointer on the board, and then backing that up with an and-one layup on the return trip up the floor.
Darrion Williams put up another strong performance, he is putting the versatility on display that got me excited to watch him play.
38 points in the paint tonight, which was massive in a game where it seems like none of your looks from the outside are falling, and they weren’t for 33 minutes. It is incredibly annoying when something like that is happening, but Tech had the down low looks to fall back on and that ultimately saved them today.
A major catalyst behind all of that was Devan Cambridge, who led all scorers with 15. I was not super impressed with Cambridge against Commerce but tonight he was in a good rhythm, a lot of that as a result of his awareness when it came to cutting to the basket. Several times we saw him receive shovel passes and dump-offs that led to layups. He was finding the space in the defense when the helper would collapse and that freed him up to contribute a good game.
There is plenty to be upset about, 3-16 from three is ugly, 23-59 from the field is gross. I was really confused at times what they were trying to get going on offense, primarily because I felt guys were falling in love with passing the ball too much. Sharing the ball is important, without a doubt, but passing needs to lead somewhere, whether that be downhill or drive-and-kick. We saw a little bit of that towards the end, which is when the game swung in Tech’s favor, but a more refined performance will be needed to compete in the Bahamas and in the Big 12.
I’ll give Tech credit though, for essentially holding the Spartans without a real bucket (I’m not counting the goal tend) for the last seven minutes. A shooting team will keep shooting and the shots will fall eventually, but establishing this gritty mentality early will help this team in the long run.
