After a disappointing start to Big 12 play that saw the Texas Tech basketball team drop a home game to Central Florida on Tuesday, the Red Raiders got back on track Saturday night by thoroughly dominating Utah in Salt Lake City. The 93-65 drubbing was Tech's first true road game of the year and with the win, head coach Grant McCasland's team moved to 10-3 overall and 1-1 in league action.
With a road game at BYU on Tuesday night and then a home game against No. 3 Iowa State next Saturday, Tech could not afford to let this game get away given that Utah was picked last in the Big 12 preseason poll. Fortunately, the Red Raiders took care of business in the program's first-ever game at Utah. Here are some quick thoughts on what took place in the latest Red Raider triumph.
Texas Tech turns up the defense in the second half
In the first half of this game, Utah's offense was cooking. Though Tech led 47-36 at the break, the Utes were able to get whatever they wanted on offense, especially when they moved the ball crisply or broke down the defense with the drive.
In fact, in the fist half, Utah shot 55.6% from the floor. That was despite being only 4-12 from 3-point range.
After the break, though, Tech played the type of defense that fans and their head coach alike have been wanting them to play all season. The Red Raiders held the home team to just 7-25 (28%) shooting after the intermission.
The Utes only turned the ball over nine times in the game so it wasn't that Tech was swarming and creating havoc. Rather, what the Red Raiders did in the second half was keep the ball out of the lane and force Utah into tougher shots. That's something that needs to continue for the rest of Big 12 play.
Federiko Federiko gives Texas Tech a boost with JT Toppin in foul trouble
With over 17 minutes to play in the first half of the game, Texas Tech saw its leading scorer and rebounder JT Toppin pick up his second foul of the game. Thus, the sophomore from Dallas had to spend almost all of the first half on the bench (he would play about two minutes the rest of the first half) leaving the Red Raiders vulnerable.
However, Federiko Federiko stepped up in a big way with Toppin out of the game. Finishing with 14 points and three rebounds, the transfer from Pitt played 24 minutes while Toppin played only 14.
Almost all of Federiko's points came in the first half and all of them were either a result of lobs or layups in the paint. It appears that Tech has started to figure out how to utilize the 6-foot-11 forward on the offensive end of the floor as he's averaged 16.3 points per game in his last three outings. And on Saturday when Toppin scored just 11 points, Federiko was critical in helping his team pick up the win.
Texas Tech puts the clamps on the Madsen twins
Just one game after seeing their team give up 46 combined points to two UCF guards, Texas Tech fans had to be worried that Utah's two leading scorers, the Madsen twins, would have huge games on Saturday. But to everyone's surprise, neither Mason nor Gabe Madsen were factors for the Utes.
Entering the game, that duo was averaging 29.8 points per game with Gabe leading the team at 17.5 p.p.g. But on Saturday, the brothers from Minnesota were held to just four combined points all of which Gabe scored at the free-throw line.
From the field, the Madsens were 0-7 overall and 0-6 from 3-point range. It was refreshing to see the Red Raiders finally find a way to shut down talented opposing guards and hopefully the defensive lessons McCasland taught his team after the UCF debacle on Tuesday will play off as the season progresses.
Texas Tech wins the assist game
Basketball fans don't often pay close attention to which team wins the assist battle in a game. It isn't a popular or sexy statistic to analyze but it is often telling.
When playing Utah, that's an important category to watch because entering Saturday, their 20.9 assists per game were the most in the nation. However, that aspect of the game went Tech's way.
The Red Raiders ended the night with 22 assists while Utah had only 15. Tech was led by Darrion Williams who had nine assists to go along with 19 points, five rebounds, and two steals.
Meanwhile, senior point guard Elijah Hawkins dished out eight assists. He also contributed 12 points and two steals to the winning effort.
Texas Tech rediscovers its shooting touch from 3-point range
Just days after going 3-16 (18.8%) from 3-point range, the Red Raiders found their touch in that spect of the game against Utah. Shooting 12-26 (46.2%) from beyond the arc, Tech had an 18-point edge from deep as Utah was just 6-23 (26.1%).
Hawkins was Tech's surprise leader in 3-point shooting going 4-6 for the game. Meanwhile, Chance McMillian, Christian Anderson, and Kerwin Walton each hit multiple 3-pointers.
Walton's two second-half 3s were especially nice to see. Though they were his only points of the game, at least he gave the Red Raiders something in the stat sheet after going scoreless and accruing no stats in the loss to UCF.