LAJ's Jeff Walker recaps last night's win against Gonzaga. With this win over Gonzaga Texas Tech will be playing Butler for the Great Alaska Shootout Championship tonight at 11:30 p.m. on ESPN2 (I think that's the right time in Texas). A preview and open game day thread will come later today.
Here's Coach Knight on the play of Roberts, Burgess and Singletary:
"I think D'Walyn Roberts played exceptionally well in the first half," Knight said."... We didn't get out of Singletary what we did (Thursday) night, but I thought Burgess came off the bench and played really well."
Let's get to some player reviews:
| Player | Comment |
| Trevor Cook | Increasing minutes and is showing that he can be pretty effective. I'm sure Knight dislikes the TO's, but 9 points and 4 boards isn't bad. |
| Mike Singletary | Not as effective as he was against AA, but he's a freshman and more than likely he'll be up and down all year. |
| Martin Zeno | Statistically, one of the worst games for Zeno with only 2 points and 2 boards. He needs to get on track. |
| Alan Voskuil | Wow! What a beautiful line: 28 points, 5-7 beyond the arc, 7 boards, 4 assists, and 5 steals. The bad: 4 TO's. |
| John Roberson | What I love most about his line is the 7 assists and 2 turnovers. If he's not scoring then he should distribute, and he is. |
| D'Walyn Roberts | A nice line from the freshman, 11 points and 5 boards in 23 minutes. I'll take it. |
| Esmir Rizvic | Perhaps playing back into shape in Alaska with 4 points and 3 boards for the evening. |
| Charlie Burgess | Rebounded nicely from some poor performances earlier in the year. Needs to not fall in love with 3-point shot. |
What Texas Tech Did Right:
- Held the Zags: How about that, holding Gonzaga to 38.9% from the field. This team is impressing me more and more each game from a defensive standpoint. I'll attribute the better defense to better athletes, i.e. Roberson, Roberts, Singletary and Cook, who is a much better athlete than Dora and Plefka.
- Kept Them Off the Boards: As I mentioned yesterday, Gonzaga held a 12 board advantage, at least statistically, over our Red Raiders. Last night, Texas Tech outrebounded Gonzaga by 6 boards. Pat yourselves on the back guys for a job well done.
- Improved Free Throws: Part of the problem against Sam Houston was the abysmal free throw shooting, only 53.6% for the game. The Red Raiders have been much better recently and beating a quality opponent means that you've got to do the small things, which includes making free throws.
What Texas Tech Did Wrong: Again, not much to gripe about when you beat the #14 team in the nation. No complaints today.