Texas Tech Basketball Trending & Big 12 Weekly Report

TRENDING FOR TEXAS TECH

Turnovers | I am finally happy to write about our number of turnovers as a team in our last 2 games against OSU and Baylor. We had only 13 TO’s in each game. This is a big improvement over what has been happening all season with us. Our guys are now playing Big 12 competition and have stepped up their game, handling the ball better, and making smarter decisions on their passes. We still average 16.8 TO’s per game which ranks as #18 in the nation as most per game, but I do think we are learning and gaining the experience to be able to cut down on our mistakes with the ball.

Fouls | We still need a lot of improvement in this category. Against OSU we had 19 personal fouls, and against Baylor we had 25 fouls. This is unacceptable, and I am one that feels the fouls come not just because we are young and out of position, but because we don’t move our feet! If you watch our guys they do a lot of reaching and grabbing, and seem to not get their bodies in front of the opponents when on defense. I know BCG works with them on this in practice and it must drive him nuts, as it does me, to see the team get beat off the first and second step. Another thing is when our guys slide over to help another man getting beat off the dribble, they do it a split second too late, and get called for a hack as well. We are #9 in the entire country in most fouls per game at 22.4, and this NEEDS TO CHANGE!

Rebounds | Rebounds are a big key to success for basketball teams. They are the turning point on defense that allows the transition to offense for a team, and if you can get the defensive rebounds every time your opponent puts up a shot it slows their momentum and makes them realize they need to make their shots because they won’t get a second chance. On the opposite side of the court, when we are on offense it builds on our confidence when we are getting second, and third opportunities to put the ball in the basket. As a team we are not great at establishing position and boxing out to get the rebounds, as it seems only Jordan Tolbert knows what he is doing when the shots leave people’s hands and he anticipates where the ball is going to come off the rim on the misses. Against OSU we got 38 boards, and Baylor we only got 25. We are ranked #281 in rebounds per game at 32.2, and we need to do some practicing on our boxing out of other players, and get more aggressive down low when shots go up. I don’t know who else we have on the team that makes me think we could have another guy besides Tolbert that can knock around for the boards.

Points per Game | Our offense needs to get more shots off, and get a little more quick to pull the trigger. I’m all for setting up the offense and waiting for the high percentage shot, but there needs to be guys that get the feeling of a hot hand and take the shot quicker on offense. I get upset sometimes as I watch the shot clock counting down, and it seems like the ball becomes a hot potato and no one wants to step up to take the hard shot with the defender on them. Now, maybe this is what BCG is teaching them in practice, to not jack up bad shots, but there needs to be the guy that gets the rock and takes it to the hoop with determination. We only score 66.6 points per game, good for only ranked #211 in the country, yet we are 23rd in the nation in our field goal percentage because we only seem to take high percentage shots. Should I be happy most our shots go in, but we don’t take many of them? No, I want more shots and more points if we are going to win games. I know our defense will win games too, but we need to put up more points in the games.

Attitude | I can say I’m very proud of the ways our team plays to win the game. No matter how much we are getting beat by, we still work hard to get back in the game. We are not getting whipped by teams and are putting our heads down to just go through the motions to get the game over with. Both against OSU and Baylor we were in the games and had chances to come back, just not enough to get the leads and keep them. I love watching this team, as I get the feeling that we have a chance to win every game we play. It will start to click, we will get more experience and more confidence, and we will turn heads by the end of the year and come Big 12 conference tournament time. I know BCG isn’t one for "moral victories", and neither am I, but we are turning into a pretty fun team to watch that has a great chance to beat anybody we step out on that court to play.

BIG 12 REPORT

Top Matchups in the Big 12 This Week

#4 Baylor vs. #18 Kansas State | Tuesday, January 10th. So, I called last week for the upset and first loss of the season to Missouri at the hands of K-State (which of course I was right about). KSU is a good team, which is out to prove something. This week I think Baylor is too much of a powerhouse and stays undefeated against KSU. But, if anybody has a chance to take Baylor down its KSU.

Texas Tech vs. Texas A&M | Saturday, January 14th. I might be just little bias to be picking this game as my top Big 12 matchup of the week, but this is DoubleTNation.com. Anytime we get to play a team that was picked to win the Big 12 in preseason, and then has not been good all season long is funny to me. BCG gets to play against the school that made a name for him before he bolted for Kentucky. Both teams haven’t won a Big 12 game yet. I think Tech will be pumped for this game and we will get the first win of the Big 12 on the season against the Aggies.

Big 12 Player of the Week

Travis Releford| The Kansas junior guard played really well against K-State in the win on Wednesday finishing with 16 points with 11 rebounds. He then followed up that performance with 28 points to beat Oklahoma on Saturday hitting 9 out of his 13 shots put up, of which 3 makes were from downtown.