Red Raiders fall in Austin to No. 10 Longhorns
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Tech had its four-game winning streak in Austin end with a 72-70 loss against No. 10 Texas on Saturday at the Moody Center.
The Red Raiders (10-7, 0-5 Big 12) led 34-25 at halftime and by as many as 12 late in the first half but are now on a five-game losing streak to open conference play, while the Longhorns (15-2) improved to 4-1 in conference play. Tech had won its previous four matchups against the Longhorns in Austin after losing the previous 22 dating back to 1996.
“I was proud of how our guys responded,” Texas Tech coach Mark Adams said. “I thought we played more consistent defense than we did in our last game. There are a lot of things we can build on. We still have too many turnovers and something we will emphasize. There are no easy games in this league. Last year was tough. It may be even tougher this year. We need to work on closing the gap and win games like this. We make a few less mistakes down the stretch and it could have been a different result.”
Pop Isaacs led Tech with 23 points after hitting five 3-pointers, while Jaylon Tyson recorded his first career double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Fardaws Aimaq made his season debut, going for 12 points, five rebounds and two assists in 29 minutes after missing the first 16 games of the season due to a foot injury. De’Vion Harmon added 13 points, while Kevin Obanor led the team with 10 rebounds and also scored eight points.
“I’m proud of how we battled,” Aimaq said. “We showed toughness in the game and never gave up. There were a lot of different plays in the game if we had handled better we could have had a better outcome. For us, it’s about getting better. This was our first game all season where we had a full, healthy team. I think once we start to click it will change things for us.”
The Red Raiders return home to host Baylor at 8 p.m. on Tuesday at the United Supermarkets Arena. Tech is currently 8-2 at home this season and coming off a season where it swept the Bears who are now 12-5 overall and 2-3 in Big 12 play this season after a 74-58 win over Oklahoma State on Saturday in Waco.
Daniel Batcho had early foul trouble and finished with one block and one rebound before fouling out having played only 19 minutes. It was his first game this season where he was held scoreless. Isaacs finished one point shy of his career-high with his 23 points and matched his season-best by going 5-for-9 on 3-pointers. He leads Tech 41 3-pointers this season and has now scored in double-figures in 10 games, including five in a row. Tyson, who started his career at UT before transferring to Tech at midterm last season, had a career-best 14 rebounds and was an efficient 5-for-9 from the field with one 3-pointer.
Tech finished the game shooting 24-for-60 (40.0 percent) from the field and 8-of-21 38.1 percent) on 3-pointers. UT was 23-for-53 (43.4 percent) overall and 8-of-28 (28.6 percent) from beyond the arc. The Red Raiders owned a 28-16 scoring advantage in the paint and a 40-32 rebounding margin. UT outscored Tech 21-17 off turnovers and made four more free throws, going 18-for-24 from the line while the Red Raiders were 14-of-20 at the stripe.
Tech had 15 turnovers. UT had 14.
Marcus Carr led UT with 20 points in a game where he was 4-for-13 on 3-pointers, while Sir’Jabari Rice had 18 points by going 8-for-10 at the free throw line and also hitting two 3-pointers. Timmy Allen added 17 points and Christian Bishop had seven points, six rebounds and three steals.
Tech took a 34-25 lead into halftime over the Longhorns with Isaacs at 11 points and Tyson with seven to pace the Red Raiders. Isaacs was 3-for-4 on 3-pointers in the half while Aimaq had six points and three rebounds in 13 minutes. Obanor led Tech with seven points and also had six points while Tyson had six rebounds to go along with his seven points. Tech was shooting 45.2 percent from the field with four 3-pointers and was limiting UT to only 34.6 percent shooting and 2-for-13 on 3-pointers. Tech owned an 18-8 scoring advantage in the paint with both teams at seven turnovers.
“This is a start,” Adams said. “We want to win and continue getting better. Our goal is to improve each day and play harder than our opponents.”
Tech, which had not lost consecutive games since the 2020-21 season, will now look to avoid a 0-6 start to its conference schedule for the first time since 2015 when that team started 0-6 before its first win. Tech went 0-11 to begin the 2012 conference slate and went 1-17.
KEY MOMENTS
UT scored first, on its second possession, on a layup by Carr for a brief 2-0 lead before Obanor scored for Tech on an inside shot to even the game
Isaacs hit Tech’s first 3-pointer on the team’s third possession for an early 5-2 lead
Aimaq scored his first basket of the season on his second trip down the court, spinning away from a defender for a layup and a 7-2 lead… Tech was on a 7-0 run going into the first media timeout after the shot
Tech led 13-6 lead after an Obanor layup before a Morris 3-poitner for UT on the other end… The teams went into the second media timeout with Tech leading 13-9 and the Red Raiders shooting 6-for-14 from the field and UT just 4-for-12
Tyson got his first points of the game on a follow-up basket before Harmon drove the length of the court on the next possession for his first points… Tech led 19-12 with nine minutes remaining in the half
Isaacs hit his second 3-pointer of the game to push the lead to 22-17 after UT had cut it to a two-point game… Isaacs had eight points with two 3-pointers for Tech which was only 2-for-6 from beyond the arc
Aimaq had a putback to get to six points and give Tech a 24-17 lead going into the final media timeout of the first half… Tech was holding UT to only 2-for-11 on 3-pointers and 7-for-21 overall from the field with 3:43 until halftime
Obanor hit a pair of free throws for a 29-17 lead with 2:36 remaining… It was the first double-digit lead for Tech and have Obanor six points and seven rebounds… The free throws were the first of the game for the Red Raiders
Isaacs made it a 34-22 lead with his third 3-pointer of the game… Tech was 4-for-10 with Tyson hitting the other… The 12-point lead was the largest of the half with Isaacs up to 11 points (3-for-3 on 3s)
Tyson made Tech’s first basket of the second half in response to a UT three-point play… Isaacs made the first 3 of the second half, his fourth, to give Tech a 39-30 lead and him 14 points
Obanor stopped an 8-0 UT run to make it 42-38 and give him eight points and eight rebounds… Tyson would hit the next shot, giving him 11 points and Tech a 44-41 lead with 13 minutes to play
UT tied the game for the first time at 44-44 with Rice hitting a 3-pointer with 12:37 on the clock… The Longhorns had made 5 of their last 6 shots to even the game – going 7-for-10 to start the second half with three 3-pointers and then also two free throws
UT took its first lead of the second half at 11:57 with Rice hitting two free throws coming out of the under-12 media timeout… The Longhorns were on a 9-0 run and led 50-44 after a Morris layup
Two Harmon free throws stopped the 9-0 run and cut it to 50-46… Tech was 5-for-6 at the free-throw line after the makes
Aimaq made his first 3-pointer to cut it to 53-51… He had 11 points and was 5-for-11 from the field
Isaacs made a pair of free throws to tie the game at 53-53 with 7:33 remaining… He would get up to 18 points with a runner to make it 58-55 going into the final media time out of the second half
Harmon would make a pair of free throws to cut UT’s lead to 60-58 with 1:28 to play… Harmon had seven points and made Tech 10-for-14 from the line with 90 seconds remaining
UT took a 63-58 lead with a Cunningham 3-pointer – his first points of the game with 1:07 to play… On the other end, Isaacs made two free throws to bring it back to three points and get to 20 points (his second time this season)
Isaacs drilled his fifth 3-pointer of the game to make it 66-63 with 31 seconds to play… Tech was 1 of its last 13 before Isaacs made the shot that took him up to 23 points
Harmon would make it a 68-66 game with 14 seconds remaining with a 3-pointer… It was his first of the game and gave him 10 points
Release provided by WES BLOOMQUIST Texas Tech Athletics