Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders open season with easy victory

Texas Tech dominates on the glass

One area of improvement over the scrimmage with the Aggies was Texas Tech’s ability to rebound the basketball.  Owning a 48-31 edge in the category, Tech took a nice step forward in a critical aspect of the game.

Against the Aggies, Tech was outrebounded 42-28.  That was concerning given that A&M is the caliber of team that McCasland’s bunch will face in Big 12 play.

However, much of that disparity came about because Warren Washington, Tech’s only big man, was in foul trouble for most of the game and played only 22 minutes grabbing seven boards.  Against A&M-Commerce, he stayed away from the whistles and grabbed 12 boards in 25 minutes of action (which included five offensive rebounds).

Meanwhile, Nevada transfer Darrion Williams was also effective on the glass with seven rebounds.  That shouldn’t be a surprise to us given that the 6-foot-6 sophomore wing averaged 7.3 boards per game last season on his way to being named Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year.

McMillan also contributed with six rebounds while Isaacs and Lamar Washington each provided four.  That’s the type of team rebounding that McCasland wants to see.

Moving forward, keep an eye on Tech’s ability to rebound because that’s a concern for a team with only one player on the roster over 6-foot-8.  Fortunately, A&M-Commerce is a small team so Tech was able to impose its will on the glass on Wednesday night.

But will that change when the competition gets tougher and the opponents get bigger?  That’s going to be something worth monitoring.