A tale of two halves in Texas Tech's 72-69 win over Wichita State (boxscore). Lots of good things to talk about in the first half (good perimeter defense, scoring inside and good hustle), but the second half (cannot rebound, block out, or score inside). Consistency is a tough thing with so many new faces and with Junior Knight trying to find a good mix and trying out some players.
LAJ's Jeff Walker recaps the game as well and had this from Junior Knight:
"I’ll give them credit. I loved them in the first half and I loved them in the last minute," Knight said. "Those other 19 minutes in between, that’s something we’ve got to work on. It just shouldn’t have gotten to that point. … So, I’ve got to give them the credit that they hung in there."
Offensive MVP: Roberson/Voskuil I couldn't choose between the two of them. Without their outside shooting, there's no way the Red Raiders stay in the game.
Defensive MVP: Robert Lewandowski No one really stood out, but I'll give it to Lewandowski because he looks like a legitimate big man who can do a few things on both ends of the court. Once he adds a little weight, he's going to be pretty good.
| BACKCOURT | |
B |
A really good effort by the backcout tonight. John Roberson (20 pt; 4 rb; 5 ast; 3 TO) and Alan Voskuil (20 pt; 3 rb; 2 ast 1 TO) led the team and it wasn't even close. Other than Singletary's big shot, Voskuil and Roberson did all of the heavy lifting tonight, however there's got to be a little more diversity offensively. Nick Okorie (8 pt; 1 rb; 1 ast 2 TO) seemed like he was pressing offensively, and part of that may be because he's not quite acclimated to the motion offense. Okorie needs to let it happen naturally. Tyree Graham (1 rb; 1 ast; 2 TO) looked rushed tonight as well and after two early turnovers, he saw a few minutes in the 2nd half, but that was it. |
| FRONTCOURT | |
C- |
Mike Singletary (13 pt; 0 rb; 1 ast; 2 TO) deserves a ton of credit for absolutely sinking the game-winning shot. When I saw Singletary play in the Future Games he didn't hesitate to be on the perimeter, and so it's no surprise to me that he looks comfortable out there. Robert Lewandowski (4 pt; 4 rb; 1 ast; 2 blk) has a good post-game and if you haven't seen him play, you'll be pleasantly surprised. He's somewhat old-school with a hook shot, but he's no where close to being Jack Sickma or Mark Eaton. He's athletic and tall and has some good post moves. This is something to be excited about. Michael Prince (3 pt; 4 rb; 1 ast; 1 TO) also provided a good spark off of the bench and I'll probably say this until Prince plays his last game, Prince needs to shoot the ball. That's about it for the frontcourt other than D'Walyn Roberts (4 pt; 1 rb; 1 ast; 1 blk; 2 TO) being inconsistent. Trevor Cook, Darko Cohadarevic, and Damir Suljagic all contributed very little and part of Cook's problem was foul trouble, and Cohadarevic is still having problems on the defensive end of the court. Bottom line, Texas Tech needs quite a bit more from it's froncourt. |
| COACHING | |
B |
There were a couple of things that I wouldn't mind seeing corrected. I understand that Suljagic may not fit what Junior Knight is trying to do, and he's not the most gifted player offensively, but he is by far Texas Tech's best post defender and rebounder. If the team is having trouble gaining rebounds (WSU had 16 offensive rebounds) then it may be time to give Suljagic more than 3 minutes. Not having a true post game really showed how big a problem that can be in the second half. I would have liked to have seen Singletary get the ball on the block a couple of times, or even Lewandowski. Anything to maybe draw a foul and slow down WSU's roll. I did think the team looked very prepared playing man defense against WSU and the zone looked fairly effective as well. |
Up Next: December 13, 2008 - Texas Tech Red Raiders @ Lamar University - 8:05 p.m.