Takeaways From No. 16 Texas Tech's Dominating Win Over the Colorado Buffaloes
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The No. 16 Texas Tech Red Raiders secured their second straight victory in a huge way Wednesday night with a gigantic 78-44 home win over the Colorado Buffaloes.
Donovan Atwell led the way with 20 points on nothing but three-pointers and two free throws, and the Red Raiders moved to 8-3 against Big 12 opponents, keeping them in the top five rankings of the conference.
Now, with the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats next in line, here are a few takeaways from Grant McCasland's team's dominating win Wednesday night.
Takeaways From Texas Tech's Wrecking Of Colorado
Sheer Domination
Colorado didn't even stand a chance against the Red Raiders last night in Lubbock, as was evident by the 39-22 lead that Tech held at halftime, but that's just the outer shell of how lopsided this game was.
As close as the first meeting was between these two teams in Boulder a few weeks ago was, this was on the totally opposite end of the spectrum.
Tech's field goal percentage in both overall field goals, as well as three-pointers was overwhelmingly more than their opposition, and their free throw percentage was also a considerable amount more than Tad Boyle's men put together.
The rebounds were also starkly in Tech's favor, thanks largely in part to JT Toppin, and we'll get more into him later.
Here is a head-to-head look at the stats from the night:
No. 16 Texas Tech | Colorado | |
|---|---|---|
Field Goal % | 28-62 (45%) | 16-55 (29%) |
Three-Point % | 12-30 (40%) | 6-25 (24%) |
Free Throw % | 10-14 (71%) | 6-10 (60%) |
Turnovers | 13 | 16 |
Rebounds | 47 | 30 |
JT Toppin = Professional Glass Cleaner
Nobody could keep the Dallas native from grabbing the boards Wednesday as Toppin pulled down a season-high 18 rebounds, more than he has tallied in his last two contests combined, while also adding 16 points to get back in the double-double category.
Toppin's trio of blocks and pair of steals also added to his electric defensive performance, leaving no surprise as to why Colorado's offense was struggling for the entire 40 minutes.
The junior is now averaging 21.5 points per game (tied for ninth-most in the country) and is knocking on the door of the top five in terms of rebounds, with his average of 10.9 good enough for sixth in the nation as of now.
The Time Is Now
As mentioned before, the team's biggest challenge now lies next on their schedule, a road matchup against the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats, who only suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of No. 9 Kansas this past Monday night.
But if the win over Houston a couple of weeks ago didn't give them confidence for the upcoming matchup, then the slaughtering of the Colorado Buffaloes surely will.
Tech and Arizona jump for the tip at 5:30 PM on Saturday.
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Aaron Raley is a writer covering the Texas Tech On SI. Born and raised in Northeast Texas, Aaron earned a degree from Texas A&M University in journalism, with minors in history and sports management. Aaron’s writing abilities are driven by his love and passion for various sports, both at the collegiate and professional levels, as well as his experience in playing sports, especially baseball and football.
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