How many times this season have we seen this movie? I'm not sure, it's a lot, and it never gets old.
It's a weekend frat party somewhere no one is supposed to be. Texas Tech arrives at the party and is promptly set upon by the Mountaineers, they jump on the Red Raiders and pin them down and stab them and kick them and tie them up, bludgeon them repeatedly and throw them in the pool to drown. As the Raiders sink to the bottom, West Virginia returns to the party indoors, hooting and hollering. Great success!
Red Raiders survive, because West Virginia did what some other teams have done this season: They didn't finish off Texas Tech when they had a chance. They did enough to be comfortable, they did enough to off most teams, they were ready to get back to the party, but they did not see the job through to the end. A bloody and battered Tech team managed to crawl out of the pool and find a place to heal up and win.
Early on, their big center Edwards was punishing Tech down low - but Texas Tech found a way to neutralize him. Guy ended up making 8 baskets but he only took 10 shots the entire game. Big credit to the two headed Raider center, Robert Jennings and Eemeli Yalaho, and a quick recovering, collapsing defense. The Raiders made an adjustment and it was suddenly impossible to pass the ball inside from the perimeter.
Neutralizing their center made it a game of guards, and we knew their guards could be had - that's exactly what happened. Texas Tech was able to put the ball wherever they wanted to on a regular basis and that made for some really good looking shots. Raiders had 8 steals to their one, and outrebounded WVU by two.
This was a good win, and really very likely sealed up a tourney invite - I'm as confident as I can be with the caveat that nothing insane happens in other conferences before Selection Sunday. It wouldn't hurt to get another win of course...get two wins and may move up a seed. If Tech really is a 9 seed as we have seen posited by people who predict such things, moving up to 8 is *mostly* a wash but it ~could~ affect location so that's something. Moving from 8 to 7 is a more impactful result, and I think to do that Tech needs to win out and win twice in the conference tourney - which currently would have them playing on Saturday.
It's a weekend frat party somewhere no one is supposed to be. Texas Tech arrives at the party and is promptly set upon by the Mountaineers, they jump on the Red Raiders and pin them down and stab them and kick them and tie them up, bludgeon them repeatedly and throw them in the pool to drown. As the Raiders sink to the bottom, West Virginia returns to the party indoors, hooting and hollering. Great success!
Red Raiders survive, because West Virginia did what some other teams have done this season: They didn't finish off Texas Tech when they had a chance. They did enough to be comfortable, they did enough to off most teams, they were ready to get back to the party, but they did not see the job through to the end. A bloody and battered Tech team managed to crawl out of the pool and find a place to heal up and win.
Early on, their big center Edwards was punishing Tech down low - but Texas Tech found a way to neutralize him. Guy ended up making 8 baskets but he only took 10 shots the entire game. Big credit to the two headed Raider center, Robert Jennings and Eemeli Yalaho, and a quick recovering, collapsing defense. The Raiders made an adjustment and it was suddenly impossible to pass the ball inside from the perimeter.
Neutralizing their center made it a game of guards, and we knew their guards could be had - that's exactly what happened. Texas Tech was able to put the ball wherever they wanted to on a regular basis and that made for some really good looking shots. Raiders had 8 steals to their one, and outrebounded WVU by two.
This was a good win, and really very likely sealed up a tourney invite - I'm as confident as I can be with the caveat that nothing insane happens in other conferences before Selection Sunday. It wouldn't hurt to get another win of course...get two wins and may move up a seed. If Tech really is a 9 seed as we have seen posited by people who predict such things, moving up to 8 is *mostly* a wash but it ~could~ affect location so that's something. Moving from 8 to 7 is a more impactful result, and I think to do that Tech needs to win out and win twice in the conference tourney - which currently would have them playing on Saturday.
