After a first half that caused me to start drinking, Tech delivered some excellent second-half execution and got their second conference win.

With no Willie Warren, it would have been almost inexcusable to lose this game.  I say that, but in a way this OU team was better tonight without Warren taking five or six ill-advised shots.  Or not.  At any rate, OU played tough, but during the key stretch in the middle of the second half, Tech as able to out-execute the Sooners.  Our second-half execution, on both ends of the court, was the most exciting outcome of this game.  It’s the kind of thing that might lead you to believe we still have a shot at 7-8 Conference wins.  So crack open a beverage of your choice and enjoy the evening.

First Half Funk – We started off the game with some great patience in the motion offense and some really good looks, but we missed most of them.  It was pretty frustrating.  We made it worse in the second ten minutes of the first half by losing our composure and forcing a lot of bad shots.  Darko, Tairu, Okorie, and Singletary all took bad one-on-one shots with plenty of shot-clock left, and we went into the locker room down eight points and shooting 25% from the field.  I spent half-time pouring wine and wondering what happened to the team I was watching in December.

Second Half Deliverance – We opened the second half with three straight quality offensive possessions…and missed all three shots.  I was really worried that we would do a repeat of the first half and start forcing shit, but we didn’t.  We kept grinding, the shots started falling, and then Jeff Capel decided to gamble, rolling the dice with 2-3 zone and half-court trap.  I personally considered this a victory for Pat, and our tough man-to-man defense got some clutch steals and stops that made the difference.  Maybe that’s why I feel so good about this win.  I feel like we stuck to our principles and beat OU with concentration and mental toughness.

On to the individuals…

Darko – I know I’ve complained plenty about this young man, but tonight I’m happy with Darko for two reasons.  One, he did a hell of a job hedging the high screens and still hustling back to the block to guard Tinny Gallon.  Tiny finished with 5 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 turnovers.  Two, when OU went to the 2-3 zone, Darko nullified it with excellent high-post passing.  I’ll look past some his horrible offensive moments in the first half.

Brad Reese – At this point in the season, it’s nice to have a player who is still a long way from reaching his ceiling.  Reese got his second start tonight, and he rewarded Pat Knight with numerous defensive gems and just enough offense to carry his weight.  I’m hoping he will continue to trend upward.  Notice who was guarding Tony Crocker at the end of the game.  I’ve never thought much of Crocker, but he was having a great game tonight, and I was glad Reese was shutting down his attempts at dribble-drive late in the game.

Mike Singletary – You’re my MVP, Mike, for your toughness, enthusiasm, clutch shooting, rebounding, and leadership; but two things.  One, I don’t mind you shooting the three when you’re wide open, but don’t fall in love with it.  I still prefer you moving toward the basket and drawing contact.  Two, just give me a little more effort with your on-ball defense.  You’re at your best when you can free-style and go for steals, but there were three or four times I watched you get lazy with your feet and let Crocker go by you.  But you did carry this team tonight, and have been for a while.

David Tairu – If we can eliminate the two or three times a game that David goes Ron Artest on us (puts his head down and jacks some crazy fall-away jumper), Tairu might be the best sixth man we’ve had since Mikey Marshall.  Let the offense come to you, Bro.  You’re an extremely accurate stand-still jump-shooter from the corner, and you can score versus bigger defenders in the lane.  When you’re doing these things, I love you.

Nick Okorie – I like that you keep attacking.  You even made some good passes tonight.  At some point, though, you’ve got to be more consistent making shots when you drive, contact or not.  I’m hoping that if you keep on trying, you’ll get better at finishing.  I guess we’ll see.

John Roberson – Notice that we’re capable of beating a solid Big XII opponent with Roberson going 1-8 from the field.  The key number here is zero turnovers.  John, if it were up to me, you would just run the offense and only shoot wide open looks late in the shot clock.  For the most part, that’s what you did tonight.  Please take tonight’s zero-turnover performance with you to Austin and College Station next week.

Big Lew – I’m seeing some improvement here.  Lewandowski could be very important in Austin and College Station next week.  The stats don’t show it, but Big Lew had some good moments tonight, and he’s still probably our best finisher, some sort of innate basketball gene where he catches in traffic and seems to just know the best way to put it in the hole.

The Way We Win – If you’re a football fan, compare this team to one of those run-oriented, solid defense teams you’ve seen.  To win, they need to stay close and turn it into a possession by possession game in the second half and see what happens.   I would expect any win we can get on the road (or at home) to come in this fashion.  This next week against UT and A&M on the road, it will be interesting to see if Pat finds a way to stay close through the first 30 minutes of the game.  But tonight was encouraging.  Our motion offense was better, our zone offense was solid, and we frustrated OU with our defense.  This is how we’re going to win games, by valuing each possession and working until the defense gets tired and gives us something easy.

Either way, I really like beating OU.  We haven’t done that in a while.