10 Thoughts On Texas Tech

BOX SCORE

1. Big thanks to Anthony Slater, who was actually at the game, for putting these together. I added in #8 and #9 but the rest was his. Follow him on Twitter at @anthonyvslater, and look for more of his stuff the remainder of the basketball season.

2. All things considered, this was probably the Cowboys best performance of the season. Depleted by injuries and defections, a struggling young team found a way to win its conference opener. It wasn’t always pretty, but it will provide a confidence boost to a team and fanbase that needed one in the worst way.

3. The price didn’t help, the bad opponent didn’t help, and the recent struggles certainly didn’t help, but Gallagher-Iba has got to have more energy than that for a conference game. Official attendance says 9,228, but those are artificial numbers. @shuttrking (It was closer to 928. Half the time, you could have conversations across the arena. Blame can be dished out to a number of places, and one of those is in the mirror.

4. Keiton Page is going through the best stretch of his career, and it’s coming right when OSU needed it the most. With two point guards gone, Ford put the most valued position in the hands of the player he trusts most. In the next three game, Page has scored 71 points, continually willing his young team late in games. Incredible play and even better leadership.

5. There’s just something appealing about a a 7-foot baby-faced center from the Czech Republic awkwardly strutting around the court. I’m not sure what it is, but the crowd sensed it as much as I did. Marek Soucek got a big hand when he came in, and his first-half three provided the largest cheer of the night. All jokes aside, he actually looked like a capable D-1 player. Fundamentally sound, good screener and a solid shooter. And we all know how bad OSU needs any kind of shooter.

6. Fourteen games into his career and I’m already dizzy from the Le’Bryan Nash roller coaster. One game he looks like he shouldn’t be playing Division I basketball, the next he is dominating a conference game. Twenty-one points and six boards in this one, but the energy was most important. As in, it actually looked like he had a pulse. I think the only thing we can be sure of about Nash right now is this: When he plays like tonight, OSU is a pretty good basketball team. When he doesn’t, they aren’t.

7. Travis Ford looks like a man who has aged five years in the last five weeks. In his postgame press conference, Ford looked beat. Say what you want about his coaching, but this guy will not lose from a lack of effort. Each game, he’s trying to glue together his awkward and injured team, somehow producing wins for a fanbase that’s calling for his head. It’s a tough job, but he’s certainly getting paid enough to do it.

8. Really strange night for Jurick. He had 0 points, 2 boards, an assist, and 2 blocks en route to fouling out late in the second half. He’s usually one of the more consistent cogs for OSU (even if that consistency is a bit muted by his lack of offense), but he was bad tonight.

9. Losing JPO is going to kill this team in conference play. Yes, he was only averaging 9.4 points/game but he was a bruising body and in a deep, physical league like the Big 12, those are at a premium. It didn’t matter tonight, but it will.

10. A good win and a MUCHHHH-needed win, but no reason to overreact. OSU looked good, but Texas Tech was terrible. Like, worst team in the Big 12 terrible. Billy Gillespie’s club is in a transition stage. They had some hard-working players, but little talent. The Red Raiders even trotted out a 5-foot-8, 145-pound guard that looked like he played on the Stillwater High School JV team. And he got minutes.