Texas Tech Building Standard in a 91–60 Rout of SMU, Arkansas Up Next
During shoot around Thursday, the coaching staff reportedly challenged the team with a message on standard and expectations.
“We aren’t coaching you to be average. We’re coaching you to beat them by 25.”
Message received. Texas Tech beat SMU by 31 a few hours later in their 91-60 victory over the Mustangs on Thursday night. Senior guard and captain Bailey Maupin kept it a buck following the game when asked about their standards.
“That’s how our practices should be and that’s how our practices should be every day,” Maupin said. “Nobody wants to be average. Nobody in our locker room wants to be average… it’s our responsibility as players to hold ourselves to that standard.”
A Team That “Smells Blood”
The Lady Raiders were disruptive from the opening possession, forcing deflections, jumping passing lane and turning SMU’s offense into a grind. Maupin gave the clearest window into the defensive mindset:
“It’s just a mindset. When you’re playing defense and you knock it out five, six, seven times, it just deflates the other team. And when they get deflated, we smell blood and we know it’s time to go.”
Gerlich singled out Maupin for setting the tone on that end.
“She was extremely good on defense. She was an eraser tonight. Took some charges. She came up with some steals. When we maybe weren’t great on the ball or the ball got in front of us, she was there to erase it.”
Texas Tech held SMU to 4-for-21 shooting in the opening quarter, scored 30 points themselves and didn’t allow the Mustangs to find any early rhythm. The Lady Raiders iced ball screens, kept drivers on one side and executed their scouting report so cleanly that even SMU’s attempts to spread them out rarely produced the mismatches they wanted.
In total the team blocked nine shots, led by Bristow’s three, while stealing the ball 11 times and holding the Mustangs to only 30% shooting from the field. Tech comes in third in the Big 12 after four games played in both opponent effective field goal % (32.3%) and points allowed (50.5).
Aggressive Team Focused Mindset on Offense
While the defense dictated the energy early, the offense continues to impress this season with their flow, aggressiveness and pace. Texas Tech put up 30 points in the first quarter, their second 30 point quarter of the year already, while not turning it over one time against a very aggressive SMU defense.
“We’ll have to point out to the girls that they didn’t have any turnovers [in the first quarter], which probably helped us score 30 points. Because when you’re not giving the other team extra opportunities, that increases your opportunity to score it.”
Bristow continued her early season dominance notching her first career double double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. There was a stretch early where she scored on three straight drives to the basket, including two in transition after she got a steal and took it all the way herself. A 6-3 forward playing like a point guard out there.
“It gets everybody else open when everyone’s aggressive and everyone’s where they need to be… we talk about pace all the time,” said Bristow. “Us having multi-level scorers on the court… when I drive, there’s always someone following a post to dump down to and someone in the corner.”
Maupin, meanwhile, delivered her most complete offensive game of the season. 26 points, four threes, and set the tone early with 11 first quarter points to lead the team. Asked after the game if she had a different mindset coming into this one she kept it about the team as she always does.
“If you’re open, hit shots,” Maupin said. “That’s kind of been our theme… tonight, I finally made it happen. Jalynn made it happen. Everybody just hit the shots that they were supposed to hit.”
Gerlich though said she most certainly saw a different look about Maupin early that was more than just about hitting open shots, although starting the game with a four-point play never hurts to help get a player in to the flow early.
“I definitely thought that Bailey was on go from the tip,” Gerlich said. “She just had a different flow about her. She was very aggressive on offense.”
That aggression multiplied across the roster including a breakout performance from transfer post addition Jada Malone who contributed 10 points and 5 rebounds in her 10 minutes of play. A level of production this staff knows she is capable of and has been working with her to show on the court.
“I actually talked to Jada after the Texas State game because we know she can produce so much more,” said Gerlich. “I told her you just have to be more productive when you’re on the floor. That’s what we brought her here for, and she can do those things. We’ve seen it. And so I loved her mentality today. I thought that she didn’t rush anything. She moved her feet better. She was really tough inside, which is where we need her to be and loved her presence on the glass even. I think she got a couple of offensive rebound putbacks, which were really tough for us.”
As a whole, the team is showing a great deal of maturity, unselfishness and high IQ basketball early. A product of both having such a veteran team but also their summer spent playing in Germany at the World University Games.
“They don’t blow up plays themselves just to get their own,” said Gerlich of the team’s cleaner offensive look so far this year. “I think that’s really huge. They’re super unselfish. They love to move the basketball. I think our kids are really understanding where to get the basketball to our scores in their spots. I think you can tell the benefits of playing this summer quite a bit, and they really have a good connection right now.“
What’s Next: Arkansas, Sunday, 2pm in Lubbock
After a 16–0 third quarter run pushed the lead to 32, Krista Gerlich walked onto the court during an SMU timeout and raised both arms, urging the crowd to get on its feet and match the team’s energy.
“Everybody’s been on me about getting this team to where it needs to be. And we’re there. Like, we’re getting there. These kids are playing their asses off. To beat an ACC team, to have them down by 30, and to make SMU call the first timeout of the third quarter — I want our fans on their feet appreciating the hard play and celebrating that because it’s hard to win Division I basketball games and it’s hard to win power four basketball games.”
She continued with a challenge to the fan base:
“We want them to be just as engaged as they are at the men’s games.”
Fans have that chance when Texas Tech turns their attention to another power conference opponent with Arkansas coming to town on Sunday. The 1993 Lady Raider National Championship team will be inducted into the Ring of Honor and the goal is for them to get a show from a team trying to reset the standard that the banner above them created.
Game time set for 2 PM, it will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
Photo Gallery: Texas Tech vs. SMU Women’s Basketball
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