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ODDS AND ENDS | I had one of those days that I wished I was sleeping the entire day. My kiddo has gotten me sick two weeks in a row and it's pretty awesome as my head feels like it weighs 100 pounds. My wife tells me that I need to build up my immunity. Despite being just a bit under the weather, I spent the day doing stuff, including but not limited to my brother-in-law and myself setting up my kid's swing set and slide as well as helping set up his kid's trampoline. When I left the house, I forgot to set the DVR for the Texas Tech vs. Missouri game, so I'm now three games behind and I can't watch because I forgot to tape it. I Texas Tech failed yesterday.
RED RAIDER BASKETBALL |
Missouri 81, Texas Tech 59
(box score)
From what I can tell, the game was similar to what has happened before, as the game was close in the first half, but in the second half, Missouri pulled away. F Jaye Crockett had a good game as he had 17 points, 8 boards, but he also had 5 turnovers. And Texas Tech didn't turn the ball over a ton, only 15 for the game, but Missouri was on fire beyond the three-point line as they made 16 of 26, which is 61.5% for the game, which is stellar.
As you know, this was Robert Lewandowski's last game as a Red Raider and is the lone senior on the team. You should read head coach Billy Gillispie's quotes about Lew, and here's a bit:
We haven’t done enough for him, he deserves to have more games over his career and this season and because he’s about as good of a person as you’re ever going to be around and is about as conscientious of player you could ever imagine or hope for, he’s just the perfect guy, I mean nobody’s perfect but he’s perfect and as far as his approach to life he has his priorities in place and you have to admire that and he tries extremely hard in basketball, he tries to change . . .
DMN's Mike Graham also has a bit on Gillispie, who had some interesting things to say to the media of all things, after the loss:
"I want to thank y'all for being so kind," Gillispie said after regaining some composure. "I've sat in front of every single media member in the country over my career and -- gosh I'm really glad my players aren't this soft -- I've sat in front of every single media member in the country. The absolute, supposedly the best, whatever, I've sat in front of all of them in my career.
"You guys should be commended for being how you've been with me and this team... When you have the humanistic side that you have, obviously by the questions you ask and the way you approach me and this team, you're special. So thank you. Thank you very much. I really do appreciate it because not too many people would have been that way."
I'm fascinated by this, and as you might imagine, head coaches don't have the best relationship with the media and there is no doubt that the media in Lubbock can sometimes handle their subjects with kid gloves, but I don't think that I've ever seen a coach thank the media for the way that the season was handled. We call know that it could have been incredibly easy to rip Gillispie and this team each and every game, especially in conference play. But that didn't happen and I guess I don't know how to feel about this. I knew that this team wasn't going to win many conference games, I think I thought 3 or 4 before the start of the year so I knew that we were going to have to be patient with them, but I guess I'm surprised that Gillispie noted that the media didn't tear this team apart either. I'm not sure what to do with this, but maybe just file it away for future reference.
LAJ's Nick Kosmider recaps the game as well as a notebook where Lew can't be just 21 or 22:
"These four years have been amazing," he said. "The fans, the people, teammates, coaches and everyone else from freshman year to now have been nothing but supportive and giving. I hope that I took one step toward the 100 steps Lubbock has taken for me."
LADY RAIDER BASKETBALL | RndRckTTU has your post-game recap, as does LAJ's David Just with a recap as well as a notebook.
TEXAS TECH SOFTBALL | The softball team continues to rack up wins, including a 9-1 win against UTA (official site) and then an 8-2 win over Binghampton in the second game (official site).