TEMPE, Ariz. — I haven’t left Arizona just yet. Had to stick around for Tuesday’s game between Texas Tech and Arizona State.
Meanwhile, the other team in Arizona — the Arizona Wildcats — are going through a few things as they prepare for their upcoming game with BYU down in Tucson on Wednesday. They’ll be without another talented freshman.
So, the lower leg injury Peat suffered against Texas Tech will keep him out at least a week, as he’s expected to miss this weekend’s showdown at Houston. It also means that Wednesday’s game will be a battle of short-handed teams. BYU won’t have Richie Saunders after he tore his ACL last weekend.
Meanwhile, the Big 12 had three games stacked up for the night. UCF and TCU were fighting for the NCAA Tournament bubble. Kansas State played its first league game post-Jerome Tang while hosting his other former employer, Baylor. And, Texas Tech wrapped up the night against a short-handed Arizona State squad.
Here are takeaways from the night.
Arizona State Closes the Deal on Texas Tech
How short-handed was Arizona State entering Tuesday’s game? Seven players were out for the Sun Devils entering game and an eighth, forward Andrija Grbovic, was a game-time decision. As I watched pre-game warm-ups here in Desert Financial Arena, eight players were on the floor.
In the Big 12 teams can survive an injury or two. But seven or eight? Yeah, that’s not going to work. Grbovic played. All eight played. And, boy, did they play. They played great.
Arizona State did not seem to care that it was undermanned or that Tech had just upended Arizona three days ago. The Sun Devils (14-12, 5-8 in Big 12) played with what one high school coach I covered used to describe as “spit and vinegar,” his way of saying “just play your butts off and let’s see what happens.”
ASU led at the break, 37-36, because its defense was exceptional. The Sun Devils forced eight turnovers and scored 14 points off them, which helped counteract the fact that Tech shot 53%. It was, of all players, Massamba Diop, who gave ASU the lead. The 7-foot-1 center drained a 3-pointer in the final seconds.
But, surely No. 13 Texas Tech would figure it out, right? RIGHT?
Nope. The Red Raiders never did. They lost, 72-67, in one of the biggest Big 12 upsets of the season. How? It’s actually simple.
Arizona State outplayed, outworked and out-efforted Texas Tech every step of the way. The Sun Devils made timely shots. Their full court press gave the Red Raiders fits. They had a defensive game plan for JT Toppin that slowed him down in the screen and roll game. ASU didn’t stop him — he still had 20 points. But they slowed him down enough.
“Their actions are very simple but they just try and create miscommunication,” Hurley said. “For instance, [Christian] Anderson’s maybe lined up for a three or you over help on some of the shooters and they’re open, or they get [JT] Toppin on short rolls. Going into this, we tried to really reprogram our guys.”
ASU played like a team that had nothing to lose because, well, it doesn’t. It’s out of the Big 12 regular-season title and it’s only a matter of time before head coach Bobby Hurley’s contract expires. But, man, this was a fun night for ASU in a season that hasn’t been much fun.
Moe Odom was terrific. He scored 23 points. Four other Sun Devils were in double figures. ASU won with one big stat — scoring 21 points off 17 Texas Tech turnovers. The Sun Devils played defense like, well Texas Tech if we’re being honest.
Texas Tech didn’t have Toppin for the final minutes. On a drive to the basket, he lost his footing and felt to the ground holding his right leg in pain. He needed several minutes to get up and was helped off the floor by head coach Grant McCasland and a trainer. He left a few minutes later, with help.
Toppin had a good game and had he stuck around he could have influenced the outcome. But like the Arizona win, the Red Raiders had trouble generating much offense beyond Toppin and Christian Anderson, who had 18 points. A month ago, LeJuan Watts emerged as a legitimate third scoring option. He had five points. The lack of a consistent third scoring option could be a real problem in March. So could life without Toppin. There was no update as of this writing.
But, for one night, the Sun Devils got to enjoy upsetting a team that has national championship aspirations on their own floor. Arizona State outplayed Texas Tech. The Sun Devils earned it.
Without Tang, Kansas State Prevails
First of all, Jerome Tang wasn’t at the Kansas State game wearing a Baylor sweatshirt. But perhaps his doppelganger was?
As we learned on “How I Met Your Mother,” we all have a doppelganger. I saw mine at an SFA-UTSA men’s basketball game in the mid-1990s. It was weird.
Anyway, Tang’s shadow loomed over Tuesday’s game at Bramlage Coliseum as the Wildcats faced Baylor. Tang and K-State are set to fight over money and ESPN’s commentators have seemingly closed ranks as “Team Tang.” Athletic director Gene Taylor has as much right to try and fire Tang “for cause” as Tang has to fight said firing “for cause.” And I’ll be the first to admit the “for cause” argument feels flimsy. But it’s not about winning the argument — it’s about reducing the buyout. Taylor has another coach to hire.
Those K-State students that wore paper bags last week? Well, according to Kellis Robinett of the Wichita Eagle and other reporters on scene, they removed them and fashioned their own celebration.
Interim coach Matt Driscoll isn’t overmatched for this. Another member of the Scott Drew coaching tree, he was the head coach at North Florida for 16 seasons, won 248 games and took UNF to an NCAA Tournament. He joined Tang’s staff last year. It’s up to him to keep the Wildcats together for the next few weeks.
So, obviously, Kansas State (11-15, 2-11) won, 90-74. That’s how this works right? Fire the head coach and the team gets a boost for a game or two? No one should be under the impression that the Wildcats are going to turn a corner now. But this caught my attention.
K-State fans were happy twice in 48 hours. That hasn’t happened in Big 12 play this season. Meanwhile, Baylor is going through it.
Since the national title win in 2021, Bears head coach Scott Drew has bought into a delicate formula — a few key holdovers, a few key transfers and a couple of key freshmen that are likely one-and-done. It hasn’t gotten his program to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament since. But he’s fielded quality teams.
Even before the rash of injuries set in, something wasn’t quite right about the chemistry of this team. I could see it in the games I watched in December, but I dismissed it in part because of Drew’s track record. He and his player always seem to figure it out.
Not now. I was going to do the research but my good friend David Smoak at 365 Sports had it as his fingertips.
Drew is one of those coaches that wears his heart on his sleeve. Playing K-State the game after it fired Tang and Driscoll took over, with both having worked for him, well it was a lot.
Drew has acknowledged how rough this season has been. It’s time for Drew to recalibrate how he builds his roster. Baylor’s player development has always been its calling card. It’s time to get back to that. Access to top-tier freshmen is great, but his success was built on development and that can still happen, even in the NIL/Portal era. Iowa State’s core three is a good example of that. All three have been there at least two years.
UCF’S Bubble Brillance
On Thursday I’m going to dig into the NCAA Tournament fortunes of four teams on the bubble — UCF, TCU, West Virginia and Oklahoma State. But on Tuesday, UCF hosted TCU in a game both really needed.
Entering the game the Knights — who were on a three-game losing streak — were among the last four byes, which is the staging area to land on the bubble. TCU was one of the last four in.
So, yes, big stakes for both teams. UCF won, 82-71, in a game that surprisingly wasn’t that close. The Knights had a 14-point lead at the break and milked it in the second half. Jordan Burks dropped 23 points and UCF improved to 18-7, 7-6 in the Big 12.
I was getting worried about UCF as the three-game losing streak was eroding its path to the tournament. Now, a win over TCU isn’t going to cement it. But it stops the backslide. I’ve written this before — 20 wins before the Big 12 Tournament is a near-guarantee to get into the NCAA Tournament. Two more wins should seal it for the Knights.
For TCU (16-10, 6-7), the loss snapped a three-game winning streak, including their win over Iowa State. Micah Robinson had 20 points to lead the Horned Frogs. TCU isn’t dead yet. It has five more league games remaining, plus the Big 12 Tournament. But the needle to thread is getting thinner and the Horned Frogs really can’t afford more than one more loss.
But we’ll explore that on Thursday. I don’t want to spoil the analysis.
