There were a lot of things to love in this game, in particular the smile on Zeno's face. He was finally having a good time and without patting myself too hard on the bad, my last key to the game was to have fun and sure enough, they did. These guys just had fun.
Let's get to the review.
| Player | Comment |
| Martin Zeno | Perhaps his most complete game of the year. Played in control (only 1 TO), got to the rim and made his free throws. |
| Damir Suljagic | I'm trying to figure out when he got his offensive game. Looks like a completely different player. |
| Esmir Rizvic | I thought he would get more time with Jordan, but was effective and ran the floor like a gazelle. |
| John Roberson | Played almost the entire game and had only 1 TO. Shot wasn't falling but was effective and did a good job running the offense. |
| Charlie Burgess | I still don't know what his role will be, but he's a great spot starter or 3rd guard off the bench. Don't over-expose. |
| Trevor Cook | Was the player of the game for me. His 3-point shots opened up the game for the rest of the team. Made 8 of his 14 points in the 2nd half. |
What Texas Tech Did Right:
- Do What I Say: I said during the game that the blueprint to stopping the Aggies are not to let Carter shoot from the outside, double team any post player, and fake your shot because they will always try and block it. It all makes sense. Carter is by far the Aggies' best player, regardless of size. That guy can get up. It's natural to think that the post players for Texas A&M aren't good passers out of the post. Most post players that young aren't. If you can double-team them to the point that they can't get a clean shot and you block out then you've done your job. Finally, it was amazing to see how all of the Aggies would go after every, and I mean every, shot. Those 20 made free throws were a life-saver.
- Suffocating Defense: The more I thought about it, the more I thought we should give credit to our Red Raiders for forcing 20 Aggie turnovers and 23.1% in the first half. Think about that for a second, the Aggies were 6-26 from the field in the first half. Give credit to the big men for taking away the uber-talented Aggie big-men's post moves and the from taking away the drive. Aggie is incredibly talented off the dribble, but they don't have that many shooters. Not letting Carter get free made a huge difference.
- Consistent Offense: My biggest worry heading into the second half was whether or not Texas Tech could keep pace with an Aggie team that had been able to score. There's nothing to say that Aggie couldn't have mounted a comeback, but the Red Raiders kept pace. Give credit to Martin Zeno, Alan Voskuil and the previously mentioned Trevor Cook.
What Texas Tech Did Wrong: It wasn't very easy picking out bad things from this game.
- Killed on the Boards: Although it didn't matter in the only stat that matters, points, the Red Raiders were dominated on the boards (40-28). Rebounding was a great concern of mine last year and I don't want this team to fall into any bad habits. Continue to battle for those boards.
- No Freshmen: Not entirely true, as Roberson played almost the entire game, but I was a little disappointed not to see Roberts and Singletary in the game at all. I've been looking forward to watching their progress the entire year and I hope that Knight doesn't tighten up his musical bench for the entire year. I hope those guys continue to get minutes.
- Voskuil Is Almost There: I think we caught a glimpse of Voskuil showing that he can just freaking pull up and get off a clean shot despite the fact that a defender may be in his face. Voskuil and his teammates must continue to work on getting him clean shots throughout the game. He needs more than 4 shots for a game.
Up Next: Texas Tech @ Oklahoma, January 19, 2008 at 3:00 p.m. (Television - ESPN Plus).