Takeaways: Adams officially begins year one as Texas Tech head coach

Texas Tech men's basketball is officially underway as Mark Adams and the Red Raiders began official practice on Tuesday afternoon.

Here's what the first year Texas Tech head coach had to say before getting things started at the Womble Basketball Facility.

Adams opened up by saying it's been a challenging five months leading up to this point. He said back in April when they started getting the roster, staff, and recruiting going things were difficult trying to get in put together.

Now, they've put together an experienced roster with some coaching experience. The next challenge now that those are set is to get this team to mesh together.

"They're learning each other as the same time the coaching staff is trying to evaluate their mistakes and weaknesses," Adams said. "We've got a very physical, strong, athletic, long team. From a defensive perspective, I love to hear that. On the offensive end, we're looking forward to a team that's going to be aggressive, be able to push the ball. We got a big team so we're excited about the opportunity to get better as an offensive rebounding team than we have in the past."

Adams said KJ Allen came in about 25 pounds overweight but has lost around 28. He's playing with about 250-260 pounds right now but wants it to be lower. Being a sophomore, Allen has a ton of upside. Adams is excited about his attitude and said Allen always expresses how much he loves Texas Tech. Right now, he's been their more consistent offensive rebounder as well as being a good passer.

Adams said he likes the non-conference schedule early while looking forward to growing in games against Providence, Tennessee and Gonzaga. He said he's been in the business long enough to not take any team lightly and he'll preach that message every day.

The Womble facility is something they brag about to anyone especially recruits. Adams said it makes conditioning, weights and practice a lot more fun. He thinks it's the best facility in any level of basketball.

Marcus Santos-Silva and Kevin McCullar are naturally leaders on the team but some of the experienced transfers have already been vocal and leading in their own ways. The key to the new faces has been taking coaching very well so far.

Davion Warren, a transfer from Hampton University, averaged 21 points there but he's impressed on the defensive side of the ball, Adams said.

"He's got great hands and is taking lots of charges," Adams said. "He's been real aggressive. He's kind of a two-way player playing both ends of the floor."

Adams added that Mylik Wilson is another transfer that has shined early on. He's had the respect of the team through his skill.

Adams is challenging his team to make that extra pass and share the ball. He said taking great shots and recognizing who has the ball with how many new players averaged double-digits at their old schools. How many does he expect to be great on offense? "All of them," Adams said.

Bryson Williams and Kevin Obanor, however, can stretch the floor with their size but more impressive than that is they can shoot the three. Adams said those two have impressed and are big for how he wants to run the offense. He wants to spread it out and create space. He wants to shoot more threes per game.

Arizona transfer Daniel Batcho also has been cleared to be a full participant now. He'll be one of the Red Raiders' bigs that could play as early as game one.

From a coaching perspective, the team's Achilles heel right now is finding guys that can set screens and get the ball down the court. They're working on different sets and looks right now to figure that out.

"I love coaching and God's blessed me with a skillset that I love him for and have a passion for it," Adams said. "I've been a head coach for 25 years. I've really just getting back on the floor and I feel right at home. We've got a great coaching staff and then these players. We talked about leadership but they've been great followers as well. I think it's important that they need to be coached but they want to be coached."