McCasland Looks Forward to Showdown With Colorado
Following a Quad 1 win over West Virginia on Sunday, The #16 Texas Tech Red Raider basketball team is gearing up to host Colorado. The Red Raiders took down the Buffaloes on the road 73-71 in the first meeting. Head Coach Grant McCasland met with the media today to breakdown the win over the Mountaineers and preview the second meeting with Colorado.
If Tech Plans to Go Into this Game Different
In Morgantown, the Red Raiders had foul trouble yet again get in the way and sparked a late comeback for the Mountaineers. However, Tech was in control the whole way through and Coach McCasland addressed the idea if he was going to approach this game differently.
”I don’t know if we’re gonna do anything differently. I mean, I think the biggest thing for us is just how can we continue to improve. We got a lot of guys who I think are pivotal for us moving forward who haven’t got a lot of minutes. Specifically Josiah (Moseley) and Luke (Bamgboye). So just how do we keep integrate them in the game and how do we have an urgency to get better defensively. I thought we did some positive things against West Virginia and anytime we play on the road you got to manage the game in a way with your competitiveness. And I thought our competitiveness to start the game just our ability to get 50-50 balls and compete on the glass to start that game really set the tone. In this league, especially playing a great team like Colorado offensively you can’t give those guys good looks. And if they do then I think they just have a lot of different offensive players that can make you pay. They’ve won two their last three games and have played well offensively in those games. And so our attention to detail on defense was what it needed to be against West Virginia. We just got to keep improving in that area.”
If Colorado is A Different Team Than Last Time
It’s been known that so much can change even within a month in basketball, and McCasland was real quick to acknowledge what Colorado has improved upon since the last meeting despite losing 7 of their last 9 games.
“No question. Colorado has made some pretty drastic changes since we played them, and they’ve gotten better. They actually had a guy that didn’t even play against us that’s playing now who we know well and just really like they’re going with a younger group. They’re going with different lineups that can cause you different problems in different ways and you can tell that they’re making steps toward toward more wins. And really impressed with how they’re competing.”
The Emergence of Atwell’s 3 & D Dominance
Prior to Donovan Atwell’s arrival, it was Kerwin Walton who was the primary 3 & D presence. McCasland finds it inspiring to see how Atwell took that role and ran with it and states it’s one of the key reasons this year’s team’s trajectory is propelling the way it’s heading.
”Donovan‘s been tremendous and efficient is probably an understatement. He’s been so consistent in his approach every day. He’s a vital part of our team, but I think it starts with his character and his competitiveness. He’s got a great balance and he brings it every day. I mean if he doesn’t feel well, he practices hard. He’s got something going on with his hand, he’s out there shooting balls to start practicing warming up. He’s just a pro in regard to his approach. And there’s a reason why he has such great success. It’s because of his consistency and his competitiveness.”
Moseley and Bamgboye’s Impact Since Entering The Rotation
McCasland made a comment last week how at the start of the season there’s a natural dip as far as bench players are concerned that tends to happen in November. However, for a couple of Red Raiders its happening in February. In spite of all that, McCasland is seeing the strides in the past few games with Josiah Moseley and Luke Bamgboye’s minutes. And voiced how it’s starting to become full circle with what they’ve shown in practices leading up to the games.
”I think what we saw at the end of the game with Luke’s ability defensively, when I’ve seen him in practices, he has kind of a slower start, and then the more he plays the more he ramps up and the more he gets competitive and the better he plays. And so that’s where just keeping some consistency in seeing him compete is really important and the same thing with Josiah. I think he got right out of the box and now we’ve been through seven practices together going in the last week and going on eight and I think what was difficult for him going into that game against West Virginia is they play such a slower pace and I mean I looked at our guys in timeouts and I’m really consistent with how I communicate with them in regards to their energy level. And we’ve had too many conversations where they can tell me like I need a break you know and we’ve had a bunch where we’ve made some intentional decisions. In the game against West Virginia we played JT (Toppin) more at the four with Luke and so we tried that combination some. And JT was like “I feel great!” And so from a competitive standpoint, I think the pace of play, the physicality of play, how they move offensively, what were requiring of our guys every game we’re just gonna take it a possession at a time. With a plan going into it of how we wanna get everybody involved, but it doesn’t always work out that way. And a great example was Tyree (Bryan) wasn’t feeling great. Before the game, we felt like he was going to be fine and then when he got in the game at halftime, he was sick. It’s just hard to know and so more depth at that forward position wasn’t necessarily what was helpful against West Virginia. We need more guard depth. But now we’re excited because we got some options and they have improved dramatically. In today’s practice, I thought Josiah Mosely was really really good. And so hopefully we can find some different ways to integrate him. But just haven’t had enough opportunities. You don’t wanna play guys at too many different positions honestly. Because they can’t be great and so if we can’t practice a particular position going into the game with such limited practices, it’s hard for them to have the success. Because you see him thinking instead of playing and honestly we’re at our best with this group when they’re repped, when they’re competitive, and when our motors are all the way turned up.”
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