Another Saturday, another massive matchup in the Big 12 Conference as No. 4 Iowa State hosted No. 16 Texas Tech, and here were the top three takeaways from the game.
In one corner, there was Iowa State, which doesn’t lose at home. Entering the game the Cyclones were the only team in the Big 12 with a spotless home record. In the other corner was Texas Tech, which was trying to win its third straight game without forward JT Toppin, who out for the season after a knee injury.
Texas Tech went into Ames and pulled their own magic trick, winning, 82-73, in one of the hardest players to win in the country.
Texas Tech Tech Without JT Toppin
JT Toppin was so ubiquitous when it came to Texas Tech’s national championship hopes that after Toppin was injured at Arizona State, the belief was that the Red Raiders were done. I’ve said to our Pete Mundo on our podcast that I felt without Toppin that Tech might not be a Sweet 16 team.
The logic? Well, it’s the question that Toppin asked his coach, Grant McCasland, after his injury — “Who’s going to rebound?”
On offense, Tech has done what I expected. I thought the Red Raiders would put their trust in their perimeter players, sell out to shooting more 3-pointers and put more on guard Christian Anderson’s back. For the first two games without Toppin, that worked. Anderson blew up for 31 points against Cincinnati. Donovan Atwell has played well. So has LeJuan Watts. The defense is there, too.
The question was how Tech would cobble together an inside game? It wasn’t that the depth was questionable, it was that we really didn’t know the depth because Toppin played so much. As well as the Red Raiders played in the first two games without him, wins over Kansas State and Cincinnati, that really didn’t tell us much.
But a game against Iowa State would tell us a lot. And Luke Bamgboye, who has started in Toppin’s place, has given this team something to work with. He had 12 points and six rebounds against Kansas State, followed by six points and two rebounds against Cincinnati. Against ISU, he was going to have to work against one of the best interior players in the conference in forward Joshua Jefferson.
Bamgboye fouled out, but not before he had 13 points. Six different Red Raiders were in double figures, and the scoring was more balanced than in any of the three games without Toppin. Bamgboye is a length problem for teams at 6-foot-11, especially the way he moves. He only played 19 minutes, so he must avoid the fouls.
But he’s a solid fill-in for Toppin. The Red Raiders need him to keep giving them about 10 points per game and continue to work the screen-and-roll game with the guards on the perimeter. After a three-game sample, I think there’s a better than average chance this team gets to the second weekend in the NCAA Tournament.
Iowa State’s Second Half Resilience
There is a reason why Iowa State rarely loses at home. Sure, there’s Hilton Magic. But there’s a great team in that arena, too.
The Cyclones were behind at halftime at home for just the second time this season. At one point, Iowa State was down 20 points, just before the break. With 7:05 left, the Cyclones had the lead down to six points.
So, how does a team do that? When you have Iowa State’s identity, you don’t panic — you adjust.
The Cyclones worked to trap the Red Raiders on the wings to cause turnovers. Iowa State drove the ball to the basket relentlessly and got four players with four fouls with about seven minutes left. The Cyclones kept getting to the foul line, knocking down shots and, thus, chipping away at the lead.
What Iowa State truly couldn’t do was cool off the Red Raiders. After Texas Tech took that time out up six points, it put together an 8-0 run, and the Cyclones ran out of steam offensively. Or did they? Iowa State cut the lead to six points with 42 seconds left with an 11-0 run. But Tech hung on and made its foul shots.
Tech finished the game shooting 58%. It was the single biggest reason the Red Raiders won the game.
Iowa State’s Big 3 had quality games. Jefferson had 22 points. Milan Momcilovic had 20 points and knocked down five 3-pointers. Tamin Lipsey had 13 points. But the rest of the team combined for less than 20 points. Notably, Jamarion Batemon only had three points and Killian Toure didn’t score.
The Cyclones have the identity to make a long NCAA Tournament run. But they ran into a buzzsaw on Saturday, and it exposed the fact that Iowa State needs more consistent scoring out of its Big 3 to advance past the Sweet 16.
So, What Now Joe Lunardi?!
Going into the game, Texas Tech appeared to be clinging to the final No. 4 seed in the Dance, per ESPN’s Joe Lunardi.
Then, right around the middle of the first half of the Tech-Iowa State game, the Red Raiders were still a No. 4 seed, but the No. 15 overall seed.
So, does this win move the Red Raiders up another overall seed line? Perhaps. I think it was fair to question whether Texas Tech could hang onto a Top 16 seed when the initial seeding was released last weekend. But their body of work to that point warranted the Red Raiders’ inclusion. Winning three in a row solidifies them as a No. 4 seed, perhaps all the way to selection Sunday.
Make it so, Joe.
