McCasland Celebrates Bounce Back Victory Over Mountaineers
In a game full of ups and downs, the 13th ranked Texas Tech men’s basketball team snapped their two-game skid with a 70-63 win over West Virginia in Morgantown. Head Coach Grant McCasland shared his thoughts on the victory (via Texas Tech Sports Network/Learfield).
Enjoying a Quad 1 Win
As always, wins on the road in the Big 12 are one of the best accolades to put on a resume. The Red Raiders know Morgantown is by no means the easiest place to play. McCasland referred back to a comment he made about what makes the Mountaineers special is no matter the circumstance, they embody the true meaning of a team.
“We know how tough and resilient they are. It doesn’t matter how much they get down. That’s the one thing I respected about them. I made a comment before and I know how much character Ross Hodge has. They’re down 30 to Arizona on the road and the buzzer is about to go off, and all five guys on the floor in a huddle hugging each other. That was at Arizona after getting completely bludgeoned in that game and they were just together. That’s what I was trying to explain. It’s never going to feel good playing against a team like this because they play every angle, they fight, they scrap, and they did to the end of this one. We got a couple of leads on them, pushed it out to 12 and they’re just right back in the mix. We didn’t play our best, but give them a ton of credit for the way they fight.”
Most Valuable Petty
It was no question the freshman guard had himself a field day against West Virginia’s leading scorer Honor Huff, and keeping him from scoring a single field goal. McCasland responded immediately with how proud he was of seeing Jaylen Petty step up defensively in the fashion he did today.
“He didn’t make a three. That just shows you Jaylen’s competitiveness. We fouled him a couple of times, but I just didn’t think he got any clean looks. Guarding the three-point line ultimately, and just taking care of the basketball. In the first half we had several turnovers, travels, and I thought they bullied us honestly around the basket and they had 38 points in the paint. But our ability to guard the three-point line really gave us a chance.”
The Asset of Bamgboye
McCasland finds it fun when Luke Bamgboye can play minutes down the stretch where he makes life difficult around the rim, and protecting it with key blocks at the end when West Virginia tried to drive.
“Luke is a difference maker for our team. I’ve said it from the very beginning. In this world of college basketball, if you can have physicality and size at the rim for protection you got a real chance. The teams that are elite have rim protection. JT (Toppin) has been great, but we’re asking a lot out of him from a scoring role, and we basically went with those guys. Tyree (Bryan) starting feeling bad a little bit before the game last night. So he wasn’t 100% so we kind of rolled with those guys that were out there, but Luke’s minutes were hugely pivotal in the win.”
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