No. 20 Red Raiders storm back for win at No. 11 Sooners

NORMAN, Oklahoma – Chance McMillian went off for a career-high 27 points and eight rebounds to help lead No. 20 Texas Tech to an 85-84 comeback win over No. 11 Oklahoma in a game with 13 lead changes and the Red Raider facing a nine-point second-half deficit on Saturday at Lloyd Noble Center.

Tech (16-3, 5-1 Big 12) was down 68-59 with seven minutes to play before mounting its third second-half conference comeback victory, its second ranked-road win in conference play, and remain atop the conference standings. Tech’s nine-point comeback over OU followed a 17-point comeback against BYU last Saturday at home. The Sooners (15-5, 3-4 Big 12) fell to 11-2 on their home court after seeing Tech go 16-for-19 at the free-throw line, hit nine 3-pointers, and take the lead for good with McMillian hitting a 3-pointer for a 78-76 lead with 1:27 to play.

“We trust each other on the court and whenever we’re down, we don’t panic at all,” McMillian said. “We figure out how to win. It’s our togetherness.”

“They get after it,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “I thought Oklahoma’s physicality as the game went on caused us problems. They put us on our heels, but thankfully for Chance and the belief of our team, we stayed in the fight. Ultimately, I did think our ability to get some stops and get out in transition to open the game up and then Chance’s defense also gave us an edge. The way he competed helped us win this basketball game. He really wants to win and I thought this game showed that.”

Darrion Williams led Tech with 11 rebounds and added seven points and five assists, while Pop Isaacs had 18 points and four assists. Joe Toussant added 14 points and led the team with four steals in a game where the Red Raiders scored 17 points off turnovers.

McMillian had his career-high 27 points after going 10-for-13 from the field and 6-for-8 on 3-pointers in a reserve role where he played nearly 32 minute. His previous season-high was at Butler earlier this season where he went 8-for-10 on 3-pointers. Warren Washington finished the game with three blocks, 10 points, and seven rebounds. Washington was 5-for-6 from the field and now has six games this season with three or more blocks and 34 total blocks through 19 games. Isaacs finished the game 9-for-10 at the free-throw line to help Tech win despite an off-shooting night where he was 1-for-6 on 3-pointers. Tech finished afternoon 9-for-23 on 3-pointers including Toussaint going 1-for-5. Toussaint was 3-for-4 at the free-throw line and made five shots from the field.

“It’s about how you withstand the momentum swings,” McCasland said. “You can’t lose sight of that and panic offensively. When you get down, there can be a tendency to try to get it back too quick. I felt like our transition backs from Pop and Joe really helped us. Their defense is really good. They can get you in a ball-screen coverage that is hard to play against. They are well coached. You’re not going to score on the first ball screen, so quit trying. Get to the next action. Those transition baskets opened up the game and were big for our momentum.”

The nine-point comeback started when Williams would wrestle away an offensive rebound and scored on a floater to cut OU’s lead to 68-61 with seven minutes to play before another McMillian 3-pointer made it 68-61 as the game crept under six minutes. A Washington layup off an assist from Isaacs made it 68-66 and gave him 10 points with 4:41 on the clock. A pair of OU free throws on the other end pushed it back to a four-point game with four minutes to play before an and-one from McMillian gave him 24 points and made it a 70-69 game. A pair of layups by Isaacs tied the game at 73-all with 2:52 to play.

Tech took a 75-73 lead on a Toussaint fastbreak layup that followed Washington’s third block but it was followed by a Milos Uzah 3-pointer. McMillian gave Tech a 78-77 lead with a 3-pointer with 1:27 to play and a pair of Isaacs free throws made it 80-77 game with 46 seconds left. Isaacs was 4-for-4 at the free-throw line in the final minute while Toussaint was 3-of-4. Tech led 85-81 when Isaacs hit his final two with four seconds before a last-second 3-pointer by OU made it a one-point final.

“When they went on their run and put it at nine and we had to call a timeout, it was wild,” McCasland said. “Hats off to the people here. There was a great energy in this building that I thought helped them. We have a group that enjoys the adversity. Some people don’t. Our guys do.”

Rivaldo Soares led OU with 19 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, while Otega Oweh had 14 points and Sam Godwin and Milos Uzan both had 13. The Sooners were 29-for-61 from the field and 11-for-26 on 3-pointers in the game along with scoring 14 second-chance points. OU was just 15-for-24 from the free-throw line though and would commit one more turnover than Tech in the one-point loss.

Oklahoma took a 34-33 lead into halftime in a half where Tech led by as many as eight points and OU was up by nine with three minutes remaining until the break. McMillian led the Red Raiders with 10 points at the break after going 2-for-3 on 3-pointers and 4-for-6 from the field. He also had four rebounds off the bench. Toussaint added seven points, two assists, and two steals, while Isaacs and Williams had five points each. Williams led the Red Raiders with six rebounds midway through the game and also had two assists. Isaacs scored Tech’s first points with a 3-pointer in a half where the Red Raiders were only 4-for-13 from beyond the arc. Tech went on a pair of runs to take its early lead, including a 6-0 run that included a McMillian putback and Williams runner and then an 8-0 run that saw a highlight-reel dunk from McMillian off an assists from Toussaint and then a Walton layup. Our went on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 17-all before a McCollum 3-pointer that broke a stretch of 0-for-8 shooting for Tech. The Sooners were on a 12-0 run and took a 21-17 lead on a Hugley 3-pointer before McMillian’s second 3-pointer of the half had it at 21-20. Toussaint would hit the fourth Tech 3-pointer of the half to make it 30-29 and Williams made a pair of free throws with only 4.2 seconds remaining to make it the one-point halftime score. Tech was shooting just 12-for-32 from the field but was 5-for-6 at the free-throw line. OU was 13-for-30 from the field, 5-for-13 on 3-pointers, and 3-of-6 at the line.

The second half started with Uzan and Toussaint exchanging baskets before Tech took a 40-38 lead on a jumper from Walton and layup by McMillian. It was a 42-40 lead for the Red Raiders on pair of Isaac free throws before OU led 47-44 on back-to-back 3-pointers from Hugley and Uzan. The exchanges continued with McMillian hitting his fourth 3-pointer of the game to give Tech a 49-47 lead and his fifth for a 52-49 advantage. He had 18 points and was 4-for-5 on 3-pointers after the shots that gave Tech the lead each time. OU took a 60-55 lead with a Darthard 3-pointer that was followed by an Oweh steal and dunk with 9:20 remaining. The Sooners led 62-55 after another Tech turnover on a back-court violation before a Washington dunk cut it to 62-57. The Sooners took a 64-57 lead into the under-8 media timeout and on 11-4 run.

“This was a tremendous environment and tremendous college basketball game,” McCasland said. “I have a ton of respect for Coach Moser and how they compete.”

Texas Tech remains on the road for its next game with a game against TCU at 6 p.m. on Saturday in Fort Worth before returning home to host Cincinnati at 5 p.m. on Saturday, February 3 at United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders are currently 2-1 on the road in Big 12 play with a win at Texas and loss at Houston and are also 11-0 at home going into their first Big 12 matchup against the Bearcats next weekend.

Release Provided By WES BLOOMQUIST Texas Tech Athletics