The Texas Tech basketball team missed out on a tremendous opportunity to boost its NCAA Tournament resume on Saturday. Losing a 13-point first-half lead and eventually falling to No. 3 Iowa State 85-84 in overtime in Lubbock, the Red Raiders once again failed to secure the type of win that will resonate with the selection committee when the NCAA Tournament bids are handed out in March.
The home team had chances to win the game at the end of both regulation and overtime but in each instance, Iowa State made the necessary plays to either stay alive or prevail. After the game, head coach Grant McCasland said that his team wasn not as "urgent" as the Cyclones were.
"I loved a lot of the things that we did as a team tonight or this afternoon," he said, "but when it got down to winning time and just the possessions as the game went on, I thought you could just sense their urgency of getting paint touches and putting us right next to the rim. And there wasn't, we weren't making them shoot fade-away threes to beat us. I mean, they really put it on us. Got to the free-throw line and made them and then got to the rim and or got offensive rebounds. I mean, we did out-rebound, and we had 15 offensive rebounds or 16, that is for the game.
"You know, we turned it over 15 times, but it was just the way they caved us in. Really was the difference in the game, their physical, downhill mentality and their ability to turn us over and make us play away from the basket, and we had to make some pretty difficult shots, and they were making shots at the basket, so give them all the credit."
Losses of this nature are always going to sting. What's more, no Texas Tech fan should be satisfied with moral victories. However, the fact that Tech went toe-to-toe with one of the top teams in the nation is a good indication of what this team is capable of. McCasland talked about what his team needs to do to get over the hump in games of this nature.
"I've been in this league for about 10 years as a player and a coach," he said, "and just the margin of victory in these games is always at the end of the year when you look at the numbers, it's just a little over a possession, really. So I think the urgency that I'm trying to communicate with our team is, how can we do the things and the scrap defensively needed to win these games? I mean, you can look at a lot of missed whatever, but really what it comes down to is, do we have the urgency and the ability to get stops when it really matters? That's what I, that's where I just feel like we've got the greatest growth to make."
No player on the Red Raider roster was more impressive on Saturday than Christian Anderson. One of three players on the team with 18 points in the game, the true freshman had his best game as a collegiate. McCasland was asked about Anderson's growth and development.
"I mean, he's special...," he said. "And the more we can get him involved in those actions in the middle of the floor, the better off we're going to be. But what I love about Christian is he doesn't back down. I mean, you go watch back. You can go watch this game and I'll go watch it back. But he was throwing his body around in there at the end of the game as a freshman and putting his hands on some basketballs, like he dove on that ball that was a shot clock violation. I mean, he that's what I love about him. He's just one of those guys who loves to play. He'll go play one-on-one if you want to play one-on-one. He just, he's a basketball player, man, in every sense. And so his best days are ahead of him. There's no question about that."
One play that will haunt the Red Raiders was letting Iowa State tie the game in the final seconds of regulation. McCasland discussed what he saw that led to the Cyclones' last-second layup to send the game to overtime.
"I mean, we basically, I mean, you know, they tried that to post up the inbounder," he said, "and it was just the last thing we said, 'Just don't let the ball go into the post. Don't let them throw it into the post. Make them reverse it and make them throw a high, low.' And, you know, they pitched the ball in, and he just beat [Darrion Williams] to the spot and caught it and made it play at the basket."
Finally, McCasland touched on the health of forward JT Toppin who briefly left the game with a rolled ankle. Though he wasn't as effective after the injury, McCasland said he was proud of Toppin for fighting through the pain and trying to help his team win.
"Yeah, I was thrilled with JT. You know, he came out and got after it early, and I thought our game plan to take advantage of what they were doing was really, was tremendous. And you know, his urgency early, and he's got some possessions too defensively, where he was good, but he was a part of the getting caved process, you know, and that's where having him in practice is really helpful.
"And we lost him basically for a good stretch there. And I thought he was actually making strides before it happened, not offensively, but if you go back and look at those games, he was actually getting way better defensively, in the way he was moving. So I don't you know, I'm thrilled with the fact he came back in the game though, you know, because he got it pretty good, got his ankle pretty good, and for his grit to go back in there and want to play was, I thought it was great."