It was the turnovers that killed Texas Tech again. The Red Raiders lost to the Missouri Tigers 97-86 (boxscore). This game could have been much worse and to give these guys credit, Texas Tech fought all game long, they just lacked the ability to keep pace with Mizzou, that and the turnovers were the biggest stories.
There were some bright spots and being the silver-lining kind of guy, we'll talk about those as well, but one turnover early in the game stuck out in my mind. It was very early in the game, John Roberson was running the fast break, although I think Mizzou was back on defense, he throws a bullet pass to Robert Lewandowski, it goes through Lewandowski's hands and goes out of bounds. The camer then focused on Roberson who winced at Lewandowski and the look of his face was why didn't he catch the ball. Again, not actually being on the court, that's just what I gathered. So, let's get this straight, Roberson makes an ill-advised pass on a fast break where Mizzou looked to be back, makes a bullet pass to Lewandowski, who is running full steam down the court, and it's Lewandowski's fault? I don't think it's a stretch to say that Roberson has got to do a better job of taking care of the ball and he's got to have that ability to know when to pull it back. You can't run all of the time and trying to do so results in turnovers.
Offensive MVP
Robert Lewandowski: Was really good offensively, and didn't get discouraged when things didn't go his way. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Lewandowski is the guy you build around starting today.
Defensive MVP
No One I really couldn't think of anyone that had an outstanding defensive day, and when you give up 97 points, that's probably accurate.
BACKCOURT | |
D |
The backcourt, starters and reserves, committed 14 turnovers on Saturday afternoon, and although most turnovers are an unforced error, there seemed to be quite a few of just sloppy passes and Mizzou was more than ready to over-play on the permiter, ready to take advantage of lazy passes. The positive, Voskuil seemed to get back in some sort of rhythm. Roberson is still struggling to find how to get his shot off as Mizzou played good permiter defense (as did Baylor and Texas) and I think he is struggling with how to score when he's covered so well on the outside and has a tough time scoring when he drives. Okorie displayed a good mid-range game, and think he's be better served if he decided to be very selective shooting three-point shots and focus more on the inside to mid-range game. Rogdrick Craig received minimal minutes, but contributed and would like to see him play more than 8 minutes. |
FRONTCOURT | |
C- |
As mentioned above, Lewandowski was really good, but for the most part, Texas Tech was over-matched inside, although I thought most, if not all of the inside guys, contributed offensively and on the boards. Texas Tech had a 14 rebound advantage and that's something that happens once an eon. Defensively, you could tell that Texas Tech was just out-matched/out-played by Mizzou and the Tigers were just bigger players. Lewandowski was on Carroll most of the day and Carroll still finished 10-16 with 27 points. The post defense was shaky, but I thought Roberts (9 pts, 7 rbs and needs more than 16 minutes), Prince, and Singletary (14 pts and 6 rbs) all contributed as undersized forwards against Mizzour. |
COACHING | |
C |
Not real sure how to handle this as the first-half turnovers were an absolute killer, but how much do you faulk Junior Knight for this? I can't imagine that they didn't review the tape beforehand and knew that Mizzou would play pressure permimeter defense, but it just seemed that Roberson, Voskuil and Okorie were being lazy with their passes. I kept thinking that a ball-fake would have been ideal, with a cut to the basket. It would have lightened up the defense on the outside and maybe would have allowed for Voskuil to get some better looks earlier. Texas Tech handled the press fairly well, no real issues there. I'm not sure how PK gets to Roberson to slow it down and still contribute, it's almost as if he thinks he can't do both. As far as positives, I loved that the players didn't give up on each other, when that would have been real easy to do. They showed some fight, but just could never get back into the game after being down by so much and not being able to stop Carroll, especially late, really hurt. |
Up Next:
January 28, 2009 - Texas Tech @ Texas A&M - 8:00 p.m. CST