No notes this morning, today we celebrate this team's first conference road victory against Colorado. As I was reviewing "DTN's Top ____" I realized that there were only 2 stories that I wanted to link and thought that I should wait. Thus, this morning you only get a review of last night's game and the Happy Days episode that aired at halftime.
Here's the boxscore (not official).
| Player | Comment |
| Mike Singletary | Struggling a little, but still scoring. Got into foul trouble that probably limited minutes. In only 12 minutes he had 7 points and 4 boards. |
| Damir Suljagic | A double-double for Suljagic. That is awesome. 13 points and 10 boards and I thought he helped with the 2nd half surge. |
| Martin Zeno | In one word, efficient. Zeno made all 5 of his shots from the floor and made all 4 free throws for 14 points and 4 assists. Also had 4 TO's but please ignore. |
| Alan Voskuil | Had 20 points on 10 shots and 6 boards for the night. Also made 4-5 from beyond the arc. Is rounding into a much more assertive player with PK at the helm. |
| John Roberson | The TO's (4) were troubling, and it seemed that Roberson had a hard time hanging onto the ball early, but finished with 20 points on 12 shots, including 3-6 from beyond the 3-point line. |
| Charlie Burgess | Easily Burgess' best game of the year. Burgess is at his best when he drives to the bucket and gets out on the break. Finished with 7 points and 5 assists with only 1 TO. |
| Trevor Cook | I thought he provided quality play in limited minutes. 4 points and 2 boards for the night. |
| Michael Prince | Again, quality play in limited minutes. I've always thought that Prince should be more assertive offensively and would love to see that take place this summer. |
| D'Walyn Roberts | Impressive block and there's no doubt in my mind that Roberts can play. I like that PK is feeding him minutes, keeping him involved in the program, keeping him here. |
| Rogdrick Craig | Minimal minutes. |
| Tyler Hoffmeister | Minimal minutes. |
| Esmir Rizvic | Minimal minutes. |
| Ricardo De Bem | Minimal minutes. |
What Texas Tech Did Right:
- Offensive Purpose: I thought the offense looked about as good as I can remember. The Red Raiders shot 61.8% from the field. The turnovers were a problem, but the shooting was great and bodes well for a good shooting game against Iowa State. It's probably obvious to everyone, but the minute that Voskuil started shooting more and really looking for his shot the better this team was offensively. Having three guys who are capable of scoring, and sometimes 4 makes this offense fun to watch.
- Damir The Great: Is it funny to anyone else to see Damir shoot hook shots? I always get a little nervous when he does shoot, but when he does, the ball goes in the cylinder. I think having a guy that is competent in the low post is great for this team and Suljagic deserves quite a bit of credit from being a guy who couldn't make a lay-up last year, to a guy that can shoot from the perimeter and has an array of moves inside, the most impressive is his hook shot.
- Burgess' Best Game: I've been critical of Burgess for a good part of the year, mainly in part because he was losing his effectiveness because he wasn't doing much on the offensive end of the floor. Last night was, by far, Burgess' best game of the year. Burgess is best when he's driving to the basket and running out on the break and last night he did just that. I'd love it if Burgess were a guy who could come into a game, play pressure defense and really push the ball. If Burgess can keep this up, then Burgess makes this team that much better.
What Texas Tech Did Wrong:
- Ugly Turnovers: It was depressing to watch turnovers early. It was nothing more than just carelessness. Roberson has got to do a better job of taking care of the ball and part of that has to do with concentrating early in the game, being focused. The turnovers for Roberson is the one thing that bothers me about Roberson's play. Of course Roberson wasn't the only offender, Zeno also had 4 turnovers and Voskuil had 2. But because Roberson is going to be handling the ball more than anyone else, he's got to be more conscious about it.
- Easy Buckets: I don't know if it was Colorado's offense but it just seemed like in the first half that Colorado was getting a ton of lay-ups and good looks at the basket. Some of that was slowed in the second half, but it seems to me that this team isn't as focused on the defensive end of the floor under PK and I'd like to see this team really turn up the pressure against Iowa State on Saturday.
Up Next: Iowa State @ Texas Tech, Saturday, February 23, 2008 at 12:30 p.m. (Television - ESPN Plus).
Texas Tech Basketball:
LAJ's Jeff Walker has his game story from last night, focusing on PK's halftime speech. PK knew early that he was going to have to light a fire under this team early and at the break:
"I can't talk about (the halftime speech). It's censored, but I was tired of the casual bs. I'm just tired of it. We come out and have a chance to win a road game and we were just going to give it away. They knew I wasn't very happy."
Kind of a funny quote from Roberson who essentially said that after PK's impassioned halftime speech, he was afraid to lose:
Colorado coach Jeff Bzdelik had some good things to say about the Red Raiders:
Happy Days:
For those of you who watched the game in the DFW area, then you saw a portion of a Happy Days episode, where Richie goes to the prom. So many emotions, breaking-up, and yes, getting back together. I thought that Joanie's sitter was a breath of fresh air and really added to the episode. Knee-slapping funny at times. For me, this episode gets a A+.