Jeff Linder breaks down No. 5 Texas Tech's 91-71 First Round victory over No. 12 Akron
Chris Level caught up with Texas Tech assistant head coach Jeff Linder following the No. 5 seed Red Raiders win over No. 12 seed Akron 91-71 in Tampa Friday afternoon. Coach Linder spoke about the transition from a rough loss in the Big 12 Tournament versus Iowa State, Tyeree Bryant‘s impact, and more.
Tough Loss In The Big 12 Tournament To The First Round
“Yeah, I mean, I think the mindset of our guys leading up to this after a tough loss to Iowa State in the Big 12 tournament; just getting our guys in that right frame of mind, knowing that we were going to play an Akron team that had our full attention.
I mean, obviously, they’re really talented offensively. We knew we were going to have our hands full in terms of trying to guard, and I think that was the biggest thing in terms of defense especially as the game went on.
The defensive guys did a really good job in terms of making the necessary adjustments, started switching, and that’s where Josiah Moseley played a huge, huge role in terms of our ability to switch. Because with the ability to switch, you keep them out of rotations, and now you’re out of rotations, you’re not giving up threes, and that’s a thing that they do just as well as we do, is make threes, and so we did a tremendous job of minimizing their three-point attempts, understanding the scout in terms of knowing how (Shammah) Scott, #1, wants to get to his threes, (Tavari Johnson) #5. Like, the defense did a really good job in terms of understanding. Our guys did a really good job of taking that game plan and implementing it.”
Tyeree Bryant’s Impact Following LeJuan Watts’ Fouling Out
“Tyeree (Bryant)‘s had some struggles over the course of the year, but man, for Tyeree just to hang in there says a lot about his character. I mean, he’s an awesome kid, and for him to be back in Florida, and for him to be able to do that in his home state, in front of his family, it’s what we needed.
Coach (Grant McCasland) has done such a tremendous job; it would be easy to have left Tyeree behind, and coach did such a good job of just continuing to build on and say, “Hey, man, we’re going to need you,” and LeJuan fouled out there with 9:30-10 minutes left, and we didn’t miss a beat.”
Quick Turnaround Preparing For Another NCAA Tournament Game
“Yeah, I mean, obviously you just never take these situations for granted. I mean, to be in the NCAA tournament, to have this experience, I mean, it’s just unbelievable. But luckily, we have so many people behind the scenes that do a tremendous job in terms of just making sure that on a quick turnaround that we’re prepared. The GAs, the managers, they make our jobs a lot easier in terms of being able to do some of those stuff behind the scenes to where now on a quick turnaround, which we’re built for a quick turnaround. We’ve been doing it all year. And so now we just got to see who we’re going to play and go out there and see what we can do.”
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