Result :: Win : 74-81 : SB Nation Box Score
Record :: 15-7, 3-5
Big 12 Standings :: 9th
Up Next :: 02/09/2010 : @ Oklahoma Sooners : 13-9, 4-4
The Result :: Defense Oriented. Amazingly, Oklahoma St. shot better than Texas Tech for the game, and the difference in the game was that Oklahoma St. committed a ton of silly fouls and Texas Tech defended the perimeter. You hear folks talk all of the time about if the defense is a constant, then there's a high chance that this team will be in most games. Despite Bob Knight being known for his motion offense, it was his defense that kept teams in games while at his tenure in Lubbock. A few stories were written last week regarding the lack of defense over the course of a 4 or 5 game stretch and for whatever reason Pat Knight's team just stopped playing defense on some level. Some of that was due to the fact that Darko Cohadarevic was suspended a game and D`walyn Roberts was out with an injury for a couple of games, but the other part is that this team has SF Mike Singletary, who can be a lazy defender and sometimes this teams worst defender (yes, I know he had 5 steals yesterday, but I still think he can be a lazy defender at times), on the floor 90% of the time and without two of this team's best defenders, Darko and Roberts, I think this team struggled.
The Storylines ::
Reese vs. Jenkins: SF Theron Jenkins didn't score a point yesterday, while fellow SF Brad Reese scored 4 points on 4 shots. In fact, Jenkins missed his only two shots of the game, but after seeing Jenkins get some extneded minutes in the first half, especially when this team somewhat extended it's lead and played with a relatively small lineup while Reese was on the bench with early fouls, I'm convinced that Jenkins is a better basketball player. That's not to say that I think that Reese is a bad basketball player, but that Jenkins is a better all-around player and although Reese is matched up with the opposing team's best player to start the game, Jenkins contributes in ways other than in the points column. In fact, in only 11 minutes, Jenkins finished with 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block. Reese finished with those 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 turnover in his 16 minutes. Again, I'm not trying to suggest that Reese shouldn't play, but Jenkins is the better ball-handler, doesn't try to be a jump-shooter, and will mix it up inside and contribute in ways other than just scoring.
Free Throw Disparity: I'd love to see the free throw numbers for teams that play at home and on the road in any given night in the Big 12. Perhaps this is something I shouldn't be complaining about after a win, but it just seems like that the home teams, no matter the circumstances, typically shoot a much higher number of free throws than the road game. It's completely unfair, and I think this is a fairly big reason why road teams are struggling to have much of a shot in any contest. But yesterday, the Cowboys were just silly with some of their fouls, the entire game. A majority of those foul calls were the result of OSU simply reaching rather than moving their feet, and it made this game that much tougher to watch as it just seemed as if OSU was fouling every other possession. LAJ's Courtney Linehan talked with PK after the game and he says that the foul disparity isn't by accident:
"It’s not by accident," Knight said. "That’s why we drive the ball, that’s why we cut and move, so they hold us. If they’re going to foul you, they’re going to foul you."
Making it Happen for Singletary: Singletary was injured, had a sore shoulder and that obviously affected his play somewhat. Singletary only made 5 buckets and 15 free throws for the game. I started to keep a mental note, but a majority of Singletary's points and/or free throws seemed to be as a result of Singletary running the floor, but also his teammates finding him on the break. It seemsed as if there were more than a handful of times where Jenkins, SG Nick Okorie or SG David Tauri would find Singletary in the break and I think those players deserve credit for getting Singletary to the line. I still dislike Singletary feeling like he deserves certain calls, it's not as if the refs had their whistles in their pockets, but he did a good job of getting up and down the floor and getting to the bucket.
The MVP :: PG John Roberson: Roberson wasn't necessarily sterling yesterday, was almost completely absent for the first 15 minutes of the game but by the time the game was over, he had 28 points on just 14 shots, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and just 1 turnover.
Four Factors, Player Impact, Stat Comparison and Game Flow: Terrific graphs from StatSheet after the jump:
Four Factors:
Player Impact:
Stat Comparison:
Game Flow: