Very, very nice. Let me start by saying, or really it might even go without saying, but there is not much to legitimately take away from this game without Elijah Hawkins and Christian Anderson present.
Let’s start with what I really liked from last night.
Coming into the year, I asked the question of whether or not Darrion Williams would be able to elevate himself into a different kind of scorer. A lot of times last season, I thought he let the game come to him, which is fine, but I always wanted to see more. Considering the talent he has, I always felt he had that extra little gear in him. Case in point, he was much more aggressive last night and was taking it to the defense, rather than purely letting them dictate what his next move was.
I thought his willingness to shoot the ball off the dribble is something that will bode well for him moving forward. This team is full of weapons but it is also going to need that player who is going to step up in the big moments like we have seen around here in the past few seasons. Darrion Williams can be that player if he stays in that attack mentality.
I was fairly satisfied with the offense overall, more so that guys were able to create looks for themselves on a regular basis. I wouldn’t say it was a phenomenal night as far as sharing the basketball went, 15 assists and 12 turnovers, but considering the absences, it was a solid night. Relying on Chance McMillian to be a primary ball handler is not something that I think can win you many games in the Big 12, but that will hopefully not be the predicament you're in by that time.
Obviously, this team can shoot the crap out of the ball and that was evident. Kerwin Walton might be the most revolutionary thing to come out of the McCasland era. When you think about what he was in his first season to what he is now, it is wild.
Rebounding was a strong point of this team last night, not something I expected but definitely a welcomed sight. I thought with this Bethune-Cookman team that they were going to be very active on the glass like they were active early on defensively, but Tech did a great job of fighting on the glass.
A stat that might go overlooked? The rebound differential was 22-7 at halftime in favor of the Red Raiders, and BCU had ZERO offensive rebounds to that point. The second half was really on cruise control and the rebound numbers might not look as dominant in the final box score, but man Tech got after it in the first half.
JT Toppin was as advertised. Soft touch around the rim and he was much like Darrion, aggressive around the basket and showed that effort to make something for himself.
Overall, there’s not really anything to nitpick on on the offensive side of the court because everybody played pretty well and the game blew wide open down the stretch of the first half. There’s not much else to say in this regard, I thought everybody played to their strengths on that side.
Defensively, as several of us pointed out in the game thread, was clearly where this team has a long way to go. What’s comforting, at least, is Grant McCasland is not afraid to admit that. He said it before the season and last night after the game, defense is just not this team’s strength.
Really my biggest issue with the team defensively last night was how they handled ball screens. What I remember from last season was an intentionality behind defending ball screens, not very much switching action going on because that team was not capable of doing so.
With actions where the player guarding the screener was a guard like Kerwin Walton or Kevin Overton, you could notice some switching going on. Whenever it came to JT Toppin or Fede Federiko guarding the screens, this was an entirely different case.
So in this case, 1 would be a guard and 2 was Toppin or Federiko. One of two things was happening here.
A) the person guarding the screener would hedge the screen and then be forced into trying to recover on the screener/roller, which didn’t bite Tech as much as I think it would’ve against a better team.
OR B) the guard in the PNR was quick enough to split the hedge with the roller already going to the basket, forcing the help side defender to step up and make a decision. This happened on a couple different occasions that I noticed. One in particular was where Kerwin Walton was the help defender and he stood no chance down low with the guard driving and Jesus Carralero Martin got a layup.
This was really the thing that stood out to me the most on the defensive end of the floor and I am curious to see if this is still how Grant and staff opts to play ball screens like this from here on out.
He seemed fairly confident in Elijah Hawkins and Christian Anderson’s capabilities on the defensive end of the floor, but I really wonder how much of a difference that makes when it’s really the screener’s defender that is getting the short end of the stick when it comes to defending ball screens.
Just my two cents here with all of this, we go again Friday and it is TBD what the status of the absentees looks like. Until then, building the continuity with these guys is still something that will pay dividends down the line.
Let’s start with what I really liked from last night.
Coming into the year, I asked the question of whether or not Darrion Williams would be able to elevate himself into a different kind of scorer. A lot of times last season, I thought he let the game come to him, which is fine, but I always wanted to see more. Considering the talent he has, I always felt he had that extra little gear in him. Case in point, he was much more aggressive last night and was taking it to the defense, rather than purely letting them dictate what his next move was.
I thought his willingness to shoot the ball off the dribble is something that will bode well for him moving forward. This team is full of weapons but it is also going to need that player who is going to step up in the big moments like we have seen around here in the past few seasons. Darrion Williams can be that player if he stays in that attack mentality.
I was fairly satisfied with the offense overall, more so that guys were able to create looks for themselves on a regular basis. I wouldn’t say it was a phenomenal night as far as sharing the basketball went, 15 assists and 12 turnovers, but considering the absences, it was a solid night. Relying on Chance McMillian to be a primary ball handler is not something that I think can win you many games in the Big 12, but that will hopefully not be the predicament you're in by that time.
Obviously, this team can shoot the crap out of the ball and that was evident. Kerwin Walton might be the most revolutionary thing to come out of the McCasland era. When you think about what he was in his first season to what he is now, it is wild.
Rebounding was a strong point of this team last night, not something I expected but definitely a welcomed sight. I thought with this Bethune-Cookman team that they were going to be very active on the glass like they were active early on defensively, but Tech did a great job of fighting on the glass.
A stat that might go overlooked? The rebound differential was 22-7 at halftime in favor of the Red Raiders, and BCU had ZERO offensive rebounds to that point. The second half was really on cruise control and the rebound numbers might not look as dominant in the final box score, but man Tech got after it in the first half.
JT Toppin was as advertised. Soft touch around the rim and he was much like Darrion, aggressive around the basket and showed that effort to make something for himself.
Overall, there’s not really anything to nitpick on on the offensive side of the court because everybody played pretty well and the game blew wide open down the stretch of the first half. There’s not much else to say in this regard, I thought everybody played to their strengths on that side.
Defensively, as several of us pointed out in the game thread, was clearly where this team has a long way to go. What’s comforting, at least, is Grant McCasland is not afraid to admit that. He said it before the season and last night after the game, defense is just not this team’s strength.
Really my biggest issue with the team defensively last night was how they handled ball screens. What I remember from last season was an intentionality behind defending ball screens, not very much switching action going on because that team was not capable of doing so.
With actions where the player guarding the screener was a guard like Kerwin Walton or Kevin Overton, you could notice some switching going on. Whenever it came to JT Toppin or Fede Federiko guarding the screens, this was an entirely different case.
So in this case, 1 would be a guard and 2 was Toppin or Federiko. One of two things was happening here.
A) the person guarding the screener would hedge the screen and then be forced into trying to recover on the screener/roller, which didn’t bite Tech as much as I think it would’ve against a better team.
OR B) the guard in the PNR was quick enough to split the hedge with the roller already going to the basket, forcing the help side defender to step up and make a decision. This happened on a couple different occasions that I noticed. One in particular was where Kerwin Walton was the help defender and he stood no chance down low with the guard driving and Jesus Carralero Martin got a layup.
This was really the thing that stood out to me the most on the defensive end of the floor and I am curious to see if this is still how Grant and staff opts to play ball screens like this from here on out.
He seemed fairly confident in Elijah Hawkins and Christian Anderson’s capabilities on the defensive end of the floor, but I really wonder how much of a difference that makes when it’s really the screener’s defender that is getting the short end of the stick when it comes to defending ball screens.
Just my two cents here with all of this, we go again Friday and it is TBD what the status of the absentees looks like. Until then, building the continuity with these guys is still something that will pay dividends down the line.
