Texas Tech basketball: Scouting the Iowa State Cyclones

Point guard Tyrese Haliburton is one of the Big 12’s best players

For the Cyclones, everything runs through 6-foot-5 point guard Tyrese Haliburton.  The sophomore is averaging 15.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 7.8 assists per game and is one of the best players in the conference.

Tech fans likely don’t remember him because the two times we saw him play the Red Raiders last year, he scored a combined two points.  But this season, he’s become the primary scorer and facilitator for his team the way Jarrett Culver was for Chris Beard and his team a season ago.

He ranks 6th in the Big 12 in scoring,12th in rebounding, and first in assists.  He’s also had five 20-point games this season and has been held below 10 points just three times.  However, two of those instances have come in his last three games.

Halliburton lives off of the old-fashioned pick-and-roll.  We saw Tech use that same play over and over again down the stretch at Kansas State with Kyler Edwards and now, they will have to defend it all afternoon against the Cyclones.

Tech’s switch-everything defense typically handles the pick-and-roll rather well because there’s never a question about what the defenders should do on every screen at the top of the key.  ISU also lacks the scoring punch in the post to make Tech pay for switching a guard onto a big man.

But regardless of who winds up trying to stop Halliburton, he’ll likely have his hands full.  Already with a triple-double this season against TCU, he is going to be the focus of the Red Raiders’ efforts in this game.