I will say right up front that I have no major complaints. Raiders played hard, played tough in a tough place to win, and took front running Kansas to the double OT wire - even had a chance to send it to a third overtime.
I think looking at the teams that it seems Kansas, at home, in a revenge game, had to play their best game of the year against a Tech team that overall played pretty darn well but in some moments played less than stellar basketball. I've seen Kansas play 8 halves of basketball plus two OT and this was their best game of the season. I give Tech a solid "B."
Raiders have two problems and we have talked about them since the end of non conference play: Point guard and free throws. As a team I have no issues with free throws last night, Tech shot about 71%. Wilson missed a very big game winning free throw it's true, but he hit 3 of 4 overall and that's not bad. Only Obanor and Warren missed more than one free throw and they each only missed two. I would have liked Texas Tech to attempt more free throws, but the refs did not agree.
Point guard is an issue, and Kansas put some light on it last night: When it was crunch time the Raiders did not have anyone that could get the ball to Williams. How does Tech address that in future games? I don't know what they will do but things that come to mind are set some screens, move the ball side to side, move Obanor or Santos-Silva to the free throw line extended and form a high post position (the "I" post) for entry passes to Williams. Or just make the pass and suffer any turnovers.
Raiders took several questionable shots, but several of those were I think due to Kansas' defense. Not all of them, though. Shannon I think needs to make more of an effort with the ball. I think it is in his head that teams force him to go right, so he's going to pull up to beat that and ends up taking a pretty poor shot. He will eventually come to realize that you got to dance with the girl that brung ya - in other words, do what you do best: Go left. Go to your strength and if they stop you then so be it - but make them stop you, don't give them a free stop by shooting a long pull up jumper. If you want to pull up, do it from 10 feet or take one more step and try to lay it in. So hopefully lesson learned and let's move on.
Overall I've been saying this for the last 10 days or so and in the last two game threads: Tech is close. They are close to putting it all together. Point guard is going to be a problem, but they can do some things to help that and have been. Take slightly better shots. Continue to work on those free throws. Feed Williams even more, he's separated himself from the league and good teams will take advantage of that by giving him the ball more.
These street dogs don't quit, that's for sure. I'm very encouraged by last night's game - other good Tech teams have gone up there and got flattened.
Worthless SEC Challenge game is up next, with Texas following so Mississippi State is by definition a trap game. The only thing that would make it a true trap game is if it was at Starkville. It will be interesting to see how Tech plays this game, how it compares to game play we have been seeing recently.
I think looking at the teams that it seems Kansas, at home, in a revenge game, had to play their best game of the year against a Tech team that overall played pretty darn well but in some moments played less than stellar basketball. I've seen Kansas play 8 halves of basketball plus two OT and this was their best game of the season. I give Tech a solid "B."
Raiders have two problems and we have talked about them since the end of non conference play: Point guard and free throws. As a team I have no issues with free throws last night, Tech shot about 71%. Wilson missed a very big game winning free throw it's true, but he hit 3 of 4 overall and that's not bad. Only Obanor and Warren missed more than one free throw and they each only missed two. I would have liked Texas Tech to attempt more free throws, but the refs did not agree.
Point guard is an issue, and Kansas put some light on it last night: When it was crunch time the Raiders did not have anyone that could get the ball to Williams. How does Tech address that in future games? I don't know what they will do but things that come to mind are set some screens, move the ball side to side, move Obanor or Santos-Silva to the free throw line extended and form a high post position (the "I" post) for entry passes to Williams. Or just make the pass and suffer any turnovers.
Raiders took several questionable shots, but several of those were I think due to Kansas' defense. Not all of them, though. Shannon I think needs to make more of an effort with the ball. I think it is in his head that teams force him to go right, so he's going to pull up to beat that and ends up taking a pretty poor shot. He will eventually come to realize that you got to dance with the girl that brung ya - in other words, do what you do best: Go left. Go to your strength and if they stop you then so be it - but make them stop you, don't give them a free stop by shooting a long pull up jumper. If you want to pull up, do it from 10 feet or take one more step and try to lay it in. So hopefully lesson learned and let's move on.
Overall I've been saying this for the last 10 days or so and in the last two game threads: Tech is close. They are close to putting it all together. Point guard is going to be a problem, but they can do some things to help that and have been. Take slightly better shots. Continue to work on those free throws. Feed Williams even more, he's separated himself from the league and good teams will take advantage of that by giving him the ball more.
These street dogs don't quit, that's for sure. I'm very encouraged by last night's game - other good Tech teams have gone up there and got flattened.
Worthless SEC Challenge game is up next, with Texas following so Mississippi State is by definition a trap game. The only thing that would make it a true trap game is if it was at Starkville. It will be interesting to see how Tech plays this game, how it compares to game play we have been seeing recently.
