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Buckenell 60, Texas Tech 72

By Seth C

IMG_2056

Texas Tech beat Bucknell, 72-60, and Coach Knight tied Dean Smith for the NCAA Division I all-time leader in victories.

Player Reb. A Pts Comment
M. Zeno 4 2 18 I am amazed every time I watch him
M. Prince 9 1 4 All around good game; would like to see just a little more offense
E. Rizvic 0 0 0 No minutes in the 2nd half
A. Voskuil 5 3 15 Filled in better than expected for Burgess
J. Jackson 2 3 18 Started slow but finished strong
D White 0 0 3 Good to see that he is still getting minutes
L. White 0 1 0 Would have like to see play a little more
D. Dora 5 2 14 Was great off the bench; scored played defense

A really important win for a number of reasons. Without Burgess and Valentine, Knight called on Voskuil and he really gave Tech a spark early in the game. It was fairly obvious that Burgess has really allowed this team to run as there were less fast-break points. With Burgess handling the point guard duties, it permits Jackson to play without the ball and concentrate on scoring more.

Voskuil filled in admirably. Voskuil is a gifted shooter and you can tell he has supreme confidence in his shot. The only thing I was a little worried about was the fact that he was playing so many minutes, he wouldn't have the legs for those long-range jumpers, but Zeno and Jackson turned it on in the 2nd half.

Jackson was forced to handle the ball quite a bit more and it was problematic in that it didn't allow him to really come alive until the second half. He wasn't able to work himself around screens to find an open shot. In any event, Coach Knight was forced to react with the injuries and I think he pulled the right strings.

At some point someone is going to ask me to stop talking about Michael Prince, but he played really well again today. He does so many little things all game long that help this team succeed and today he was a monster on the boards with 9 total. He is doing an incredible job of holding this team together.

Dora was great off the bench, defensively, he knew when to let things go and when to challenge the opposing player. Those two blocked shots were something special, without a doubt really motivated the team. Rizvic just didn't have very much today, but he's still trying to figure out the game. McNaughton had decent post moves and Dora is the more capable defender, or at least he'll move his feet. With Rizvic, he good at being big and that's about all he's good at right now, but he's learning.

As I have said before, I am utterly amazed by Zeno's play. There are very few players today who have the mid-range game that Zeno has combined with his athleticism, it's just a really tough combination to stop.

As a team, I thought the defense played really well. Bucknell committed 13 turnovers and it seemed like they forced 5 or 6 traveling violations on their own. Tech really clamped down in the second half, holding Bucknell to 31% and 40% for the game. The free-throw shooting was atrocious and if there's something that Knight will let them hear about until next week, it's that they shot 55.6% for the entire game. That's unacceptable. At some point during the telecast, there was was free throw that was missed, and the camera quickly turned to Knight and as you read his lips he said/yelled, "Concentrate". Tech was out-rebounded for the first time since the Louisiana Tech game. I believe that Knight will try to correct that as well before UNLV. Overall, a really nice team effort. Lean on your stars, Jackson and Zeno, and let the rest of the guys do the dirty work.

DMN's Tim MacMahon has his write-up here. If you watched the game, Knight had this to say immediately after the game:

"I hope those kids that played at Army back in 1965, I hope some of them watched the game today," Knight said, referring to his first college team. "They can look at themselves or look at their grandchildren and say, 'We were there when that son of a [expletive] started.' I wouldn't mind that being said."

LAJ's Jeff Walker has an article about the game here and an article about Knight here. For Knight, as the above referenced quote above demonstrates, this achievement is a cumulative achievement. I really believe that this record is a record that Knight shares with every player and every coach that helped him achieve the number of victories that he has. Walker has this from the Knight article:

Like Smith, Knight said he can't wait until the talk about the record is over. He wished he could have accomplished it 10 years ago to get it out of the way. Knight can break the mark on Thursday, when the Red Raiders host UNLV at 8 p.m. "Dean told me this one time, he said, 'You know all this talk about passing (Adolph) Rupp. You know, I wouldn't mind just going to one less game and then quit,' " Knight said. "And I said, 'Like hell you are.' I mean, I really got on him. I said, 'You're going to pass the son of a (gun). You're going to get by Adolph.' Not that I dislike Adolph. I said, 'that's going to be something that you do.' ... "We were talking about that the other day and he remembered exactly what I said about it to him, and I was really pleased when he did it because I knew a lot of the players that played for him, I knew a lot of coaches that coached for him and I'm sure he felt about it exactly how I do. He's pleased for all those people and then it just happens. The other thing is you've got to coach a long time. I mean, if you coach a long time and you're any good you ought to win some games."

Walker has has this from Knight:

Frank Weiss played for one of Knight's final teams at West Point. Weiss was at Army from 1969-73. Knight, who recorded 102 victories at West Point, left the academy following the 1970-71 season. Weiss watched Saturday's game from his home in San Antonio and said Knight's post-game comments on ESPN2 really hit home. "It hit me pretty good because we actually played for a guy that had no reputation, he was young back then and didn't have a lot of wins just yet," Weiss said. "... It touched me when he said he hoped the Army players felt as much a part of this as the guys he's coaching today. I knew he'd reach back to the guys, some of the guys who are older than me, and let them know they were a part of this."

Walker has this from Knight about this team:

"We've just been better. We played better. We've played teams just as good or better and it's just a better basketball team than we had at this time last year," Knight said. "... I think we're better across the board. I think we play better. I don't think last year's team would have had eight turnovers. I don't think last year's team would have been as good defensively as this team was (Saturday)."

Jay Jackson had this to say about the play of Voskuil:

"Alan played very good for us today," said Jay Jackson, who along with Martin Zeno led the Red Raiders with 18 points. "He stepped up big on the defensive end and the offensive end. He knocked down some big shots when we needed it and really, he got off to a good start and that's kind of what sparked up the team at the start of the game."

I missed Yahoo's Dan Wetzel's article yesterday and it is a must read for Texas Tech fans and for Bob Knight fans. I'm not even going take a portion of the article, just read it, it's worth it.

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