Texas Tech basketball coach Grant McCasland has been telling his forward Luke Bamgboye to stop thinking he is a center and to just play basketball.
His advice is starting to pay off as the 6-foot-11 VCU transfer had four blocked shots, 13 points, five rebounds and four assists in the Red Raiders’ 82-50 win over New Orleans on Thanksgiving.
No. 20 Texas Tech (5-2) will try to build on that win Sunday afternoon when it hosts Wyoming (6-1) in Lubbock, Texas.
“Luke Bamgboye played tremendous and he really gave us a lift,” McCasland said after the Red Raiders bounced back from an 86-56 loss to top-ranked Purdue. “You can see how his impact helps, by blocking shots and being competitive and his athleticism around the rim. He has got a good feel.”
The London native missed three games because of a lower-body injury, but he has started the past two games for the Red Raiders and his impact has been felt.
Bamgboye is averaging 2.5 blocks a game, 7.0 points and 3.5 rebounds. The Wyoming game will be his 40th career game and he already has 85 blocked shots.
His emergence has made it easier for guard Christian Anderson to roam the court.
Anderson has 7.1 assists per game to go along with 18.6 points and 2.3 steals.
He scored 23 points in the win over New Orleans, including six 3-pointers. He already has scored in double figures six times this season.
He is a workhorse, averaging just less than 38 minutes per game.
“Christian Anderson can play the whole game,” McCasland said. “He is tough and he has got a motor. Would I like to get him some rest? 100%. But it depends on lineups and who he is guarding. He gets better the more he plays.”
The Cowboys are coming off a 101-59 win over Denver on Wednesday. Players at the Mountain West Conference school were just glad to get back on track after losing to Sam Houston, 78-70 and edging Norfolk State, 75-67.
“We responded the way we should,” senior forward Matija Belic told gowyo.com. “We played bad Sunday (against Norfolk). Unacceptable.”
Leland Walker led the Cowboys with 16 points, while Khaden Bennett had 14 and Uriyah Rojas had 13.
Freshman guard Nasir Meyer also had 14 points off the bench, the fourth time he has scored in double figures this season.
“I saw a different level of intensity, I saw more pressure on the ball and defense turning to offense,” Meyer told gowyo.com. “Then offensively, we weren’t making mistakes and weren’t making many turnovers in the second half. We were just executing.”
The Cowboys outscored Denver 64-32 in the second half and limited Denver to 34% shooting, including only 3-of-25 on 3-pointers, for the game.
“Life is about response,” Wyoming coach Sundance Wicks told gowyo.com. “I was maniacal in our teach tape after the last game because our bench attitude and effort looked very entitled. We challenged them to be the team that we are supposed to be, be the connected team that we thought we recruited that we brought you here to be.”
The Cowboys responded by outrebounding Denver 44-31.
