Game Analysis | Texas Tech Red Raiders 62, Oklahoma St. Cowboys 84

There’s not a lot to say about this game, turnovers, bad halfcourt defense and Marcus Smart returning to the type of player that he’s more than capable of playing.

Texas Tech was maybe due, or maybe this was one of those games where Oklahoma St. was due, or a culmination of the two. Oklahoma St. had lost 7 in a row before winning yesterday and this is/was a team that shouldn’t be playing that way. I mentioned yesterday that it sure did seem like prior to this, that the team was playing for Travis Ford’s job and that’s a tough thing for some college players to comprehend and do. They played incredibly loose and it showed. Smart was on point and I was, unfortunately, right about Nash having a fantastic day, which he did as he scored 21 points and only missed 1 shot from the floor and free throw line, going 7-8 in both circumstances.

Star of the Game | F Jordan Tolbert: Tolbert was one of only two players to scorein double-figures, scoring 15 points, and grabbing 10 rebounds and this is Tolbert's first double-doublet that I can recall in some time.

Three Takeaways:

1. You Name It: You name it and Oklahoma St. dominated. Points in the paint? OSU 42 and TTU 28. Fast break points? OSU 23 and Texas Tech 4. Points off of turnovers? Oklahoma St. 21 and Texas Tech 6. So yeah, Oklahoma was a turnover-creating and fast-breaking machine that 56% from the field for the game and an astounding 65% from the field in the second half.

2. Here, Just Take It:: I mentioned that it was a turnover fest for Texas Tech, 7 turnovers in each half, with a team turnover somewhere in there gives the team 15 for the day. The starters combined for 10 of those turnovers, with Dejan Kravic being the only starter that didn't register a turnover. Randy Onwuasor, the back-up point guard, regisered 3 turnovers in just 17 minutes. It was really just ugly all the way around. Lazy passes is probably the most frustrating thing and there were more than a handful of those. There's just too small a margin for error for this team and if they don't take care of the ball each game, it's just not going to be close.

3. Shot Well Enough to Win: The funny thing is that if you take away those turnovers and miscues, this team would have been in the game (coulda, woulda, shoulda). The offense was good enough to win, shooting 47% from the field for the day is good enough to win most games and even shot 50% in the second half. The problem is that the half-court defense wasn't even close to being close enough. Part of it is Smart being an incredibly passer, but the other part of it is that Texas Tech just didn't put a body on Oklahoma St. players, partly evidenced by Nash getting just about every look pretty much right at the basket.

Charts: Thanks to the good folks at StatSheet.