The fans who showed up to United Supermarkets Arena Thursday afternoon got their money's worth, as Texas Tech downed UT-Arlington 77-66 in what turned out to be a physical affair between the two sides. The Red Raiders, despite turning the ball over 17 times, were also the beneficiaries of 17 Maverick turnovers and found a way to push through UTA behind four double-digit scorers. Turning the ball over continues to be an issue, particularly at home, and head coach Grant McCasland did not shy away from admitting where the team needs to improve on that front.

“I didn’t do a good enough job as a coach of rotating us, I felt like we had some matchups that we wanted to keep and because we were turning the ball over so much, I tried to keep it consistent with some guard play,” McCasland admitted in his postgame press conference. “It ended up working against us and I thought fatigue led to a lot of turnovers in the second half, not the first… We lacked some composure, so really the only thing I was disappointed in was like how do we maintain more composure as the game gets loose? But finding a way to win, going into the break, this is a difficult game to play at times because guys are ready to go home. So for us to finish the first part of this off, I thought it was a good finish.”

The fatigue, as McCasland mentioned, was evident throughout the contest. Several players did not practice this week, or practiced sparingly due to being under the weather, according to the head coach. McCasland said the team was “not at 100 percent” going into the game, but he admired their “gritty performance.” The fatigue played a factor in the Red Raiders’ inability to take care of the ball, coupled with the variety in UTA’s defensive approach, it forced Tech’s players to make adjustments on the fly. The Mavericks employed several different defensive attacks, including a mix of zone defense and full-to-half court pressure. It appeared to be a learning moment to take forward.

“I honestly felt like everything we saw we were prepared for it,” McCasland said. “But what you don’t take into account is the unsure part of the switching, that’s where I felt like we had a majority of our mistakes. And in the half court, when we got the ball to half court, we had plenty of times where we just rushed the pass when if you just stay composed and play off two feet, then their over-rotation will tell you where the next play is. I thought we were just a little too quick just to try to make a bigger play. Like crosscourt passes to the corner when there’s no rotation and there’s no reason to do it is, honestly, just trying to make too big a play. And I thought that was more indicative of them switching than it was their changing defenses.”

Though it was not the prettiest of performances offensively, Tech’s defensive attitude was prevalent in holding the Mavericks to a 28.5 percent night from beyond the arc. A major factor in UTA’s poor shooting night was caused by Phillip Russell, who went 0-7 from three in the game. Russell, who scored 28 against Air Force last week, was only in his second game back since being declared eligible as a two-time transfer. Russell was fixated upon going into the game, especially considering Tech was able to witness that performance in the same arena before taking on Vanderbilt.

“He was on our scouting report when we decided to schedule the game in the summer,” McCasland said. “We knew that they had signed him, we knew the NCAA hadn’t approved two-time transfers up to this point yet and that he would need a waiver. So we were very aware of his ability and it actually factored into whether we were going to schedule them, to be honest. Then when they did get him through the waiver, and we did watch him play in Fort Worth, we knew he would add an element. The first half actually, felt like we did a good job on him and just was late, I should have subbed more to keep fresher bodies on him. When we were in between him and the basket and didn’t foul I thought we did a good job. But we fouled him shooting the two, we fouled him shooting a three and we let him get going from the free throw line. Other than that, he got loose in that segment in transition a few times just driving early in the clock and I felt like we just weren’t at 100 percent.”