Actually a fairly satisfying win for me and the Red Raiders. There were stretches during the 2nd half where I wondered if the Red Raiders were going to get a bucket, but OSU's philosophy of shooting 31 3-pointers ended up being the Cowboys'downfall. Lots of quick shots and no offensive flow. I believe now that the only reason they won in Stillwater was because Muonelo got crazy-hot. This is an undisciplined bunch.
Let's get to some reviews.
| Player | Comment |
| Martin Zeno | Not his best game, but for the first time in a very long time, Texas Tech didn't need his scoring to win. A sign this team's offense is improving. |
| Trevor Cook | Started, but only saw 7 minutes of action, an early TO led to his eventual benching. |
| Damir Suljagic | I love his line: 8 points, 10 boards and no TO's. There are times where he has a great idea getting off a shot, but still has trouble executing. Still loved the outside jumper and the ability to keep defenses honest. |
| John Roberson | Put the team on his back early and often in this game. 20 points, 6 boards, 3 assists and only 1 TO. |
| Charlie Burgess | Started, but saw only 17 minutes. Not much in the stat sheet, except an impressive 4 assists with only 2 TO's. |
| Alan Voskuil | Something is wrong with his shot, seems like he needs to get that in order before this 2 game road trip against Baylor and Nebraska. Texas Tech needs to get back on track. |
| Mike Singletary | A scoring machine. I love his aggressiveness around the rim and although it doesn't always work out, he's going to figure out how to score, just give him time. 16 points and 8 boards. |
| Esmir Rizvic | Minimal minutes. |
What Texas Tech Did Right:
- Rebounding, Glorious Rebounding: How about that? Texas Tech actually won the rebounding battle? And not by a little, but by 12 rebounds. I loved the 13 offensive rebounds, which potentially leads to easier shots, and the aggressive rebounding attitude, at least for one game. I'm not expecting the same result against Baylor, but I liked the effort.
- Roberson and Singletary: I want to express a tremendous amount of thanks and appreciation to Roberson for making Eaton his biatch. Eaton's final line was 6 points, 3 assists and 2 TO's. Compare with Roberson's line above. Roberson scored 15 of his 20 points in the 1st half and absolutely dominated Eaton. Thank you. We should also give some thanks to Singletary who led the offense in scoring in the 2nd half with 10 points. The entire team needs to take a mental note, when the offense struggles then feed the ball to Singletary and more times than note, he'll either shoot free throws or shoot a layup.
- Suljagic Gets on the Boards: It is so nice to see a Texas Tech post player get double-digit rebounds and it's nice to see Suljagic have some success. The one thing that I think is funny is how Suljagic will have a pretty spin move and the actual execution of the move looks good . . . except sometimes when he shoots the ball. There are times when he shoots the ball after driving and it's a bad shot. He just needs to slow down and try and not decide the shot before the game comes to him.
What Texas Tech Did Wrong:
- Work With Voskuil: Someone needs to work with Voskuil and get him back on track. Somehow, Roberson learned how to shoot the ball over taller defenders and I'm struggling to figure out why Voskuil hasn't figured it out. I really think it's a confidence thing with Voskuil and if he can at all feel comfortable just shooting the ball from the perimeter with a man in his face then he could be a huge asset.
- Second Half Scoring Drought: Again, at times during the second half, when I was praying that OSU would not get lucky and hit a 3-point shot, I became increasingly frustrated with the lack of offensive purpose. The team itself scored 34 points in the 1st half and 33 in the 2nd half, so it's not as if they did a better job scoring in one half or the other, but they were certainly less efficient, hitting only 29% in the 2nd half, compared to 43% in the 1st half. Were it not for Singletary and the 14 free throws, I'm not so sure that Texas Tech wins this game. Roberson needs to do a better job of directing, if that's possible, that offense and get it to guys who can create, score inside and shoot free throws (Zeno and Singletary).
- Bigger Rotation: Although I realize that Knight and the rest of the staff are trying to win games now, I'd still like to see the rotation expanded to include Roberts and Cooks. I realize that these guys are going to make mistakes, but I think it's more important that they be developed and continue to get some playing time. Burgess needs to spell either Roberson, Voskuil and Zeno and that needs to be his role on this team playing about 20 minutes a game, giving some time to each of those guys.
Up Next: Texas Tech @ Baylor, February 6, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. (Television - ESPNU).