Texas Tech basketball’s Kerwin Walton finding his stride at perfect time for Red Raiders

[ad_1]

Grant McCasland didn’t make a single substitution for about 10 minutes of game time Wednesday night in United Supermarkets Arena.

The head coach of the 19th-ranked Texas Tech basketball team is usually stingy with subs, something McCasland has repeatedly said he needs to get better at in the future. But against TCU, McCasland had a different reason for not wanting to change the flow of the game.

Kerwin Walton was finally getting back to his usual self.

Walton, the fifth-year senior, has started every game for the Red Raiders this season, though his minutes have been drastically reduced as Texas Tech gets into the thick of Big 12 Conference play. He’s usually the first starter to come off the floor, often spelled by Kevin Overton, and is lucky to get minutes after the first media timeout of each half.

McCasland knows that’s not an easy proposition for Walton, one of the nation’s best pure shooters. It’s certainly not how Walton could have envisioned his final season of college basketball going. That hasn’t changed Walton’s preparation.

HOW IT HAPPENED: Texas Tech basketball vs. TCU score today: No. 19 Red Raiders down Horned Frogs

“Kerwin works like he’s gonna play 40 minutes,” McCasland said. “To me, that says a lot about who he is.”

Walton began the second half on the floor, as he usually does. That doesn’t typically last long, but with versatile forward Darrion Williams out for the game and Overton coming out after taking a hard hit while being fouled early in the second half, McCasland didn’t sub Walton out until there was 3:58 left in the game.

Several times after Overton was cleared to return to the floor, McCasland started to send him to the scorer’s table to check in for Walton, only to change his mind after the North Carolina transfer made another key play in what McCasland called “one of his best games of the year.”

Kerwin Walton may be emerging at the perfect time for the Texas Tech basketball team.

Walton finished with a modest stat line of seven points and four assists,…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/texas-tech-basketballs-kerwin-walton-100821109.html

Author : Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Publish date : 2025-01-30 10:08:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.