A nice solid win by our Red Raiders, but as I said before the game, NW St. was a horrible offensive team and they proved that to be true with 28 turnovers. There were times where I couldn't believe some of the silly turnovers for the Demons and would think that some of the credit should go to the Texas Tech defense as the team finished with 16 steals. Here's the official boxscore.
Let's get to the review.
| Player | Comment |
| D'Walyn Roberts | Like the fact that he got 16 minutes, but still would like to see more of him as he could be an important defensive player in Big 12 play. |
| Ricardo De Bem | Hands-down his best game of the year, despite missing two gimmies. 8 points and 4 boards isn't bad. More De Bem please. |
| Martin Zeno | Somewhat quiet game from Zeno, finished with 14 points on only 6 shots and only 2 TO's. |
| Alan Voskuil | Another efficient game for Voskuil, made more than half of his shots and 14 points, 6 boards, but also had 4 TO's. |
| Charlie Burgess | Got the start, but played only 16 minutes, needs to work on FT's. |
| John Roberson | Player of the game, was unconscious behind the 3-point line, also loved the 5 assists with 1 TO. |
| Mike Singletary | Still amazed at his unique ability to score inside with a bigger opponent, finishing with 12 points on 5 shots. |
| Michael Prince | An offensive breakthrough performance from Prince where he finished with 7 points in only 9 minutes. I don't mind if Prince shoots the ball a little more. |
| Esmir Rizvic | Finished with 5 points, but also had 3 TO's. |
| Trevor Cook | I liked the 4 boards in 11 minutes, but not much else. |
| Damir Suljagic | Minimal minutes. |
| Rogdrick Craig | Minimal minutes. |
| Tyler Hoffmeister | Minimal minutes. |
What Texas Tech Did Right:
- Roberson Scores: It was refreshing to see Roberson step up and take some tough shots. In the 1st half, I thought that the Demons zone defense was working with Burgess and Voskuil in the game, but Roberson checked in and NW St. stayed with the zone, thus creating numerous opportunities for Roberson to score as they were more worried about Voskuil. It really opens up the offense to have two legitimate outside scoring threats. Also not to be overlooked is Roberson's 5 assists to 1 TO. I do want to caution Roberson about settling for the 3-point shot as I still would like to see him drive a little more, but he took what the defense gave him yesterday and I'm okay with that.
- Shot the Ball Efficiently: As a team, the Red Raiders shot 56.4% from the field for the game and thought that a big part of this was the fast break points (16), the points and the points in the paint (36). Just for comparison purposes, against New Mexico the Red Raiders had just 2 fast break points. Selectively running is good for this squad and I hope that Roberson and Burgess continue to push the ball and create some easy opportunities for themselves and teammates.
- De Bem Shines: I thought that De Bem showed us a little something yesterday. I liked his offensive aggressiveness and he seems to have a few low-post moves that could certainly come in handy during conference play. I hated the missed dunk and missed bunny shot, but that being said it was hard to complain about his play, either offensively or defensively. I tend to think that of the post options available, De Bem offers the best size/ability ratio compared to Rizvic, Cook and Suljagic.
What Texas Tech Did Wrong:
- Still Hating the Turnovers: I never would have guessed that the Red Raiders would have had 18 turnovers, but by the end of the game that was the case. Of course uncharacteristically 4 of those came from Voskuil and 3 more came from Rizvic in only 12 minutes, but it would have been nice to get that assist to turnover ratio pointed in the positive direction.
I've got nothing. NW St. was a bad team and for me that was the expected outcome. Other than letting NW St. creep back, which in a way is to be expected considering Texas Tech was playing mostly players who don't score in the second part of the second half, I thought these guys played well. Be consistent and do the same thing against Lamar and UTEP and I'll start to feel quite a bit better about this team.
Up Next: Lamar @ Texas Tech, January 1, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. (Television - TTTN).