Double-T Nation takes a weekly look at a number of issues surrounding the basketball team and the progression of Pat Knight as Texas Tech's head coach. The issues to be discussed weekly include the following: a summary of the past week's games, the Pat Knight uptempo offense, continuing the defensive work of Robert Knight, the improvement of the sophomores and how the newcomers are adjusting to the college game.
This was a tough week because the team was not playing for 10 straight days while taking finals. It's tough to maintain any sort of rhythm while the SLC team that you eventually lost to played on 12/06, 12/07, and 12/08. Granted, two of those games that Lamar played they eventually lost, but they were playing I think that's an important item to consider.
The Games
- @ Lamar: Loss 79-85
Playing Uptempo
We only have one game this week so it's tough to get a true test of whether or not the trend is continuing, but the team still scored 79 points while only shooting 39.2% from the field. The key that we talked about Sunday after the game was that behind the 3-point line, the team was absolutely awful, shooting only 22.2%. It's one thing to shoot that bad from beyond the arc, but it's another thing to jack-up 27 shots. There's got to be a little bit of balance.
I've always thought that a team that shoots a bunch of 3-point shots can get very lazy on offense because the team isn't having to work as hard for their shots. This team, at least last year, was very accustomed to working hard for their shots and although Junior Knight wants to run a bit, the team needs to remember those motion offense roots.
Continuing the Defense
No comment.
Texas Tech allowed Lamar, a SLC team to shoot 50% from the field. I think that pretty much says it all. Although Texas Tech won the rebounding battle by 1 board, it never should have been that close. Texas Tech has a decided size advantage over Lamar and they couldn't take advantage of it. Not to mention, Junior Knight even felt it necessary to ask RMK for a little bit of help.
I think it should also be noted that of Lamar had 21 assists for 30 made baskets. That's unbelievable and quite indicative that there was little defense being played on Saturday.
The Sophomores
The Lamar game may have been D'Walyn Roberts' best game as a Red Raider. Robert played 35 minutes, made 7-8 field goals, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 turnover. The only downside of his game is that he didn't shoot any free throws. Mike Singletary had an off night, making 2-11 from the field, but did contribute 7 boards and 5 assists . . . however, he also had 5 turnovers. John Roberson is a point guard that shoots first, evidenced by his 22 shots on Saturday. Shooters will shoot you right out of a game and sometimes they'll shoot you into a game. Saturday night, Roberson may have shot Texas Tech out of that game. Roberson did have 7 rebounds and 5 assists, but he also had too many turnovers, 4, for the point guard.
The Newcomers
Okorie was out and it was evident that the team lacked the depth it's enjoyed all year. Without Okorie, PK had to rely on Singletary and Roberson having off nights. Darko Cohadarevic probably had his best game offensively as he played 22 minutes, and finished 4-7 from the field, 5 boards, 2 assists and only 1 turnover. Tyree Graham and Robert Lewandowski saw minimal minutes, but if I'm Junior Knight, I might give Graham a little longer leash than only 9 minutes.
Top Three
- D'Walyn Roberts: Efficient game against Lamar was the Player of the Game.
- Alan Voskuil: Finished 6-15 from the field, but was 4-10 from the 3-point line, had 4 boards and no turnovers.
- Trevok Cook: Was really efficient, but ran into some serious foul trouble. Had 11 points, 5 of which came on made free throws, and 3 rebounds in only 17 minutes. Needs to work on not fouling.