3 takeaways from Texas Tech basketball's 89-84 exhibition win over Texas A&M

DENTON — The Texas Tech basketball team received a solid preseason test Sunday in the Super Pit and came out on the other side with an 89-84 win over Texas A&M.

Though the game doesn't count, both Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland and A&M coach Buzz Williams said the experience in the Compete 4 Cause exhibition was beneficial to both teams for a variety of reasons. That the Red Raiders came away with the win was a nice bonus for McCasland.

Here's what stood out about the Red Raiders during the matinee shootout.

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Sharing the wealth won't be a problem

Who's going to be Texas Tech's leading scorer? Most likely Pop Isaacs, who showed that with 15 points in a first half that saw him hit four 3-point attempts in a row to swing the game Tech's way.

After that? Who knows. It could be anybody. One thing's for sure, though: the Red Raiders aren't overly concerned with which one of them scores. Sunday showed the team's passing ability, which got several players open who may not have appeared to be at first.

Joe Toussaint had some solid tosses, but Warren Washington had the best assist. The 7-footer was double teamed in the post and facing the A&M bench. He knew he had Devan Cambridge open under the hoop, so Washington bounced a pass behind his back to Cambridge, who finished the bucket through contact.

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Shooting should be an improvement

Texas Tech started the game poorly from the field and went 0-for-7 to from the 3-point line to begin. Isaac's first triple at the 12:32 mark of the first half opened the flood gates the rest of the way.

Following the poor opening from the outside, Tech went 14-for-27 from beyond the arc and finished 41.2% for the game. Isaacs had six of those 3s as he went for a game-high 30 points. Chance McMillian added four triples and Cambridge two.

In all, seven of the 10 players that saw the floor at least attempted a 3-pointer and five players converted at least one. Outside of the 5 position — which we'll get to in a second — the Red Raiders should have at least four players on the floor that can take and make deep shots at all times.

Small ball prevails

Foul trouble plagued the Red Raiders throughout the night and it forced McCasland to go to very small lineups throughout the game.

After Warren Washington fouled out, the lineup of Toussaint, Isaacs, Lamar Washington, McMillian and Cambridge played the final 2:47 together. That group turned a three-point deficit into an eight-point lead.

That wasn't the smallest lineup throughout the game, but it was the most successful. Warren Washington is an important piece, for obvious reasons. However, being able to rely on smaller groups to hold their own — even with 6-foot-6 Cambridge as the defacto center — is a good omen as the Red Raiders prepare for life in the Big 12.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Takeaways from Texas Tech basketball's exhibition win over Texas A&M