No. 15 Texas Tech falls at home for first time this season

LUBBOCK, Texas – No. 15 Texas Tech had a one-point lead in the final 30 seconds after a Pop Isaacs 3-pointer but would take its first home loss of the season with Cincinnati earning a 75-72 victory in a game with 14 lead changes on Saturday at United Supermarkets Arena.

The Red Raiders (16-5, 5-3 Big 12) are now 11-1 on their home court this season after seeing the Bearcats (15-7, 4-5 Big 12) make the plays down the stretch, including getting the game-winning jumper from Simas Lukosius with 21 seconds remaining after Isaacs had hit a 3-pointers for a 72-71 lead with 35 seconds. Lukosius made the shot for a 73-72 lead with 21 seconds remaining before Isaacs missed a jumper with nine seconds on the clock on the final possession. John Newman III grabbed the loose ball on the Isaacs miss and finished the game off with a dunk.

Isaacs finished with a game-high 22 points after making three 3-pointers and going 9-for-12 from the free-throw line, while Robert Jennings had a career-high 14 points and added six rebounds and Kerwin Walton scored 12 pointers with two 3-pointers. Chance McMillian added eight points and Darrion Williams and Warren Washington had seven points each. Williams led Tech with seven rebounds in a game where Cincinnati had a 39-35 rebounding advantage, while Joe Toussaint led the team with four points and two steals but was limited to two points.

“We had several guys that weren’t 100 percent in this game and I thought Cincinnati was just extremely physical,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “They kept putting pressure on us by rebounding the basketball offensively. They ended up with eight blocked shots and I thought they drove the ball to the rim several times. I thought our contests were solid and I loved our scrap.”

Texas Tech now travels to play at No. 18 Baylor on Tuesday at 8 p.m. for its first game in Foster Pavilion before returning home to host UCF on Saturday, Feb. 10, and No. 8 Kansas at 8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 12 at the USA.

The Bearcats finished with eight blocked shots, while Tech did not have one but did own a 30-28 scoring advantage in the paint. The Red Raiders finished the night 19-for-24 at the free-throw line and Cincinnati was 10-for-10. Tech was coming off a loss at TCU where it made 14 3-pointers but was limited to just 5-for-15 from beyond the arc against Cincinnati which went 7-for-20.

“Look at the games we won, we’ve been down by nine and 10 in the second half,” McCasland said. “I mean, there’s no lead that’s comfortable. I watched (Cincinnati) in a one possession game against Central Florida, they were ahead significantly against West Virginia at the end of the game, and West Virginia came back and beat them late. I mean, in this league you have to find a way to finish games.”

Isaacs is now scoring a Big 12-best 20.5 points per conference game this season and has scored in double figures in a career-best 12 straight games. He is averaging 17.6 points through all 21 games and now has seven games this season with 20 or more points. Jennings scored his career-high 14 points after going 7-for-10 from the field to break his previous high of eight that came three times last season.

Lukosius led Cincinnati with 16 points after going 4-for-7 on 3-pointers while Dan Skillings, Jr. had 14 points and led the team with three blocks. Aziz Bandaogo recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, including going 4-for-4 at the free-throw line.

Texas Tech took a 37-36 lead into halftime with Jennings and Isaacs leading the team with 10 point each. The Red Raiders trailed by as many as nine points in the first half before working their way back into it and taking the one-point lead. Isaacs and Walton were both 2-for-3 on 3-pointers in a first half where Tech went 4-for-7. Cincinnati was 4-for-11 on 3-pointers in the first half. Jennings was 5-for-6 from the field and also had four rebounds in the half to establish his new career-high going into the break. Walton had eight points and Williams had seven points, five rebounds, two assists, and two steals while Toussaint had a team-high three assists and two steals. Cincinnati had a 13-4 early lead with a 9-0 run before a Walton 3-pointer from the corner off an in-bounds play stopped the run and his second 3-pointer tied the game at 15-15 with 11:21 on the clock.

Jennings gave Tech its first lead of the night at 21-20 after missing the front-end of a 1-and-1 but getting the rebound and making a runner in the lane. The Red Raiders were on a 9-0 run with Jennings having a layup goaltended against for a 25-20 lead before Thomas hit a 3 on the other end for Cincy with a little over five minutes remaining until the break. Jennings made his fifth basket of the game and got to 10 points with a shot that gave Tech a 32-29 lead before a Walton jumper pushed it to 34-31. Cincy tied the game with a Lukosius 3-pointer after the Walton jumper before Isaacs buried another 3 for Tech with 17 seconds left in the half. Tech finished the half shooting 13-for-27 (48.1%) and Cincinnati was 15-for-30. The teams both had 16 rebounds through 20 minutes while Tech had a 16-12 scoring advantage in the paint.

A pair of Walton free throws gave Tech a 47-46 lead with 12 minutes to play before a Washington dunk made it 49-48 in an exchange of blows midway through the second half. McMillian fought for a putback to cut it to 55-52 and then slashed to the basket on the next possession where Jennings found him for a dunk for a one-point game with nine minutes remaining. Tech took a 60-59 lead with Isaacs making four straight free throws on back-to-back possessions to reclaim the advantage with five minutes to play. Isaacs was up to 19 points and was 7-for-7 at the line in the second half with an and-one with 4:06 on the clock and Tech leading 63-61 before a Newman 3-pointer gave the Bearcats the lead back. Toussaint’s only basket of the game made it a 69-67 lead for Cincinnati with 2:08 before he fouled out on the subsequent possession.

Tech played the game without Lamar Washington who was out due to illness. Washington had played as a reserve in all of the previous 20 games this season and is averaging 2.8 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 0.9 assists per game.

Cincinnati is now 2-0 all-time against Tech with the previous meeting coming in the 1961 NCAA Tournament. The Red Raiders are now 0-2 against new members of the Big 12 after also falling against Houston. The loss followed a defeat at No. 25 TCU on Tuesday, giving Tech back-to-back defeats for the first time this season.

Release Provided By WES BLOOMQUIST Texas Tech Athletics