Red Raiders fall short against No. 3 Jayhawks

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech had its 29-game home winning streak come to an end with a 75-72 loss to No. 3 Kansas on Tuesday at the United Supermarkets Arena.

The Red Raiders (10-4, 0-2 Big 12) were down only one and with the ball on the final possession before Pop Isaacs drove into the lane looking to get to the basket. There was contact, but no call as the ball was stolen by Kevin McCullar. The turnover sent KU the other way where KJ Adams finished it off with a dunk to secure the win for the reigning national champions.

“There’s a lot of mistakes that we made but the most important thing is that we fought, and we attacked,” Texas Tech coach Mark Adams. “We didn’t give up. We had a lot of our guys be very resilient and believe in each other down the stretch.”

Kevin Obanor led the Red Raiders with a season-high 26 points after going 8-for-14 from the field, 4-for-8 on 3-pointers and 6-of-7 at the free-throw line. Isaacs added 18 points with four 3-pointers, while Jaylon Tyson added 10 points, a team-high three assists and matched a career-high with nine rebounds. Daniel Batcho finished with six points and six rebounds while De’Vion Harmon and Lamar Washington both had four points.

“This is a great learning experience for sure,” Isaacs said. “Just to see us, you know, stay resilient like that. Get ourselves back into the game and just keep fighting for our fans, keep fighting for our coach. I think this game taught us a lot of things. It taught us you can’t just play 20 good minutes in basketball, you have to play 40.”

The Red Raiders finished the game shooting 10-of-12 from the free-throw line while KU was 2-for-4. The Jayhawks (13-1, 2-0 Big 12) went 11-for-24 on 3-pointers. Tech was 10-for-21 on 3s. Obanor and Isaacs combined for 8 of the 10 3-pointers for Tech with Tyson going 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. It was the third game this season where Tech hit double-digit 3s and the fifth time Isaacs had four or more 3s. He was coming off hitting five at TCU and now has 35 through 14 games. Obanor now has 22 3-pointers, bouncing back from going 0-for-3 at TCU after hitting five in the previous game against South Carolina State.

Dajuan Harris led KU with 18 points after going 5-for-5 on 3-pointers, while Adams added 16 points and Jalen Wilson scored 14. KU freshman Gradey Dick had 11 despite going just 1-for-5 on 3-pointers. McCullar, who played three seasons at Texas Tech, returned to Lubbock and finished with seven points, three assists and two rebounds. KU finished the game shooting 31-for-63 (49.2 percent) from the field. Tech as 26-for-55 (47.3 percent).

Kansas had a 43-36 halftime lead in a first half where Tech led by as many as eight points. Isaacs led the Red Raiders with 11 points after going 3-of-5 on 3-pointers in the first half and Obanor had 10 points. Tyson had seven rebounds and seven points at the break, while Harmon had four. The was shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 5-for-11 on 3-pointers, while KU as 7-for-14 from beyond the arc. Wilson was leading KU with 13 points and Adams had 10. Both teams had scored 16 points in the paint.

Tech, which was 9-0 in Big 12 play last season at home, had not lost at home since February 9, 2021 against No. 14 West Virginia. Adams is now 26-1 at home as the Tech head coach. Kansas has now won seven in a row and improved to 42-7 in the all-time series against the Red Raiders. KU lost in Lubbock last season but is now 17-6 all-time on the road against Tech which fell to 0-3 this season against ranked opponents after a tough 67-61 loss at No. 18 TCU last Saturday to open conference play.

“There’s a reason that Kansas won a national championship last year and they’re third in the country now,” Adams said. “A lot of the time when you play those teams you have to go out and beat them. That’s when they often get the close calls and we will continue to learn. One thing we’ve learned is we played great at TCU the first half and played really well against Kansas in the second. We’ve got to put those two 20 minutes together and come up with a full game. We are going to get there.”

KEY MOMENTS
Tech scored on its first possession with Harmon hitting a pair of free throws for a 2-0 lead after McCullar had missed a jumper on KU’s first trip down… A Harris 3-pointer gave KU a 3-2 lead – its first of the game
Isaacs hit Tech’s first 3-pointer to tie the game at 5… Isaacs was coming off a game at TCU with five 3-pointers… Tyson would follow with a layup for a 7-5 lead followed by another Isaacs 3-pointer for a 10-5 lead
Tech was a on an 11-0 run going into the first media timeout and led 13-5 after an Obanor putback… Four players had already scored for Tech in the opening four minutes led by Isaacs with six points after his two 3-pointers
Isaacs hit his third 3-pointer to make it an 18-12 game before Wilson matched it with a KU 3 on the other end… Obanor would push the lead to 20-15 with a layup to give him five points
Wilson would tie the game at 20 for KU with a 3-pointer to give him 10 points before Obanor gave Tech a 22-20 lead with another inside shot… Wilson would give KU the lead at 23-22 with a 3 in response
Obanor hit his first 3-pointer of the game to give Tech a 25-23 lead and him 10 points (seven in a row)… Tech was 4-for-7 to begin the game from beyond the arc
Harmon and Washington had back-to-back layups to give Tech a 29-28 lead (6:01) with KU calling a timeout… Harmon had four points after the basket
Tyson hit Tech’s fifth 3-pointer of the game for a 32-30 lead… Tyson had seven points and six rebounds after the shot… Tech was 5-for-9 on 3s while KU was 7-for-14 at that point
KU took a 41-34 with Adams making a shot for a 9-0 run… Isaacs stopped the run with a layup to get to 11 points
KU would take a 48-38 lead on a Harris 3-pointer coming out of halftime before a Batcho layup followed… It was Batcho’s first basket of the game
Isaacs made his fourth 3-pointer of the game to make it 54-45 and give him 16 points… Tech was 6-for-12 from beyond the arc with the shot
Obanor made another 3-pointer to make it a 57-52 KU lead with 12:30 to play… Obanor had 15 points with the basket that came off Tyson’s third assist of the game
Tyson made it a 61-55 game by hitting his second 3-pointer of the game… It came with the shot clock at 1 and gave him 10 points
KU led 65-57 going into the under-8 media timeout with Obanor leading Tech with 17 points
Batcho had a block on defense and then on the other end made an inside shot… It made the game 67-59 with six minutes to play… He had six points and five rebounds with five minutes remaining
Obanor made another 3-pointer to cut KU’s lead to 70-63 with 3:38 remaining in the game… He had 21 points and was 3-for-6 on 3-pointers after the shot… Tech was 9-for-19 on 3-pointers going into the final media timeout of the game
Obanor was up to 24 points and had Tech within 71-66 with another 3-pointer with 3:10 to play… Isaacs followed with a pair of free throws to make it 71-68 and give him 18 points… Tech was 10-for-12 at the free-throw line after the two from Isaacs
Washington raced down for a layup to make it 71-70 with 1:43 to play… Obanor followed with a layup of his own in response to a KU basket… It was 73-72 KU with 50 seconds to play
Obanor pulled down a rebound off a Dick missed 3-pointer for KU with 32 seconds to play… Tech called a timeout with 25 seconds to play

Release provided by WES BLOOMQUIST Texas Tech Athletics