No. 25 TCU tops No. 15 Texas Tech in Fort Worth

FORT WORTH, Texas – No. 15 Texas Tech had an 11-point lead in the first half but couldn’t keep the momentum or mount a second-half comeback as No. 25 TCU took an 85-78 win on Tuesday at Schollmaier Arena. Pop Isaacs led Tech with 25 points and a career-high nine assists, while Chance McMillian scored 19 points, Joe Toussaint had nine assists, and Warren Washington finished with 14 points and a team-high six rebounds.

“They put us in a lot of tough situations tonight with their athleticism, shot-making, offensive rebounding, physicality,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “They had an ability to get to the free-throw line. I just felt like they beat us in all the top areas. What this league is about is imposing your will on teams and I thought TCU imposed their will on us. They did a tremendous job of staying in attack mode and when they needed to make open shots they did. It was an impressive effort by them.”

The Red Raiders (16-4, 5-2 Big 12) return to Lubbock where they will host Cincinnati at 5 p.m. on Saturday at United Supermarkets Arena before playing at No. 19 Baylor next Tuesday night in Waco. Tech is currently tied atop the Big 12 standings with No. 4 Houston and No. 12 Iowa State who also only have two conference losses.

Texas Tech finished the game 14-for-28 on 3-pointers and have now made 10 or more 3-pointers in nine games this season and in three Big 12 games. The Horned Frogs (16-5, 5-3 Big 12) had a 34-27 rebounding advantage though and forced 13 turnovers. The Red Raiders were 10-for-14 from the free-throw line, while TCU went 24-for-32. The teams were even with 13 points each off turnovers, but TCU’s free-throw line and rebounding advantages proved to be the difference.

Isaacs and McMillian each had five 3-pointers, Isaacs going 5-for-11 and McMillian 5-for-9. Darrion Williams was 2-for-3 on 3-pointers and finished the game with six points to go along with five rebounds and two assists. McMillian, who was coming off a career-high 27 points in the win at Oklahoma last Saturday, had 11 of his 19 points in the second half against TCU. Isaacs had 13 of his 25 in the second half, going 3-for-6 on 3-pointers. Toussaint had an uncharacteristic eight turnovers in the game where he scored six points to go along with his nine assists. Kerwin Walton added eight points with two 3-pointers along with four rebounds.

Isaacs now has six 20-plus point performances this season and eight in his career, while his nine assists tops his previous high of seven assists in the win over Vanderbilt back in December. He has now scored in double figures in 11 straight games and leads the Big 12 with 20.3 points in-conference games.

Trevian Tennyson led TCU with 23 points after going 4-for-8 on 3-pointers, while Micah Peavy had 18 points, five rebounds, and a team-high four assists. TCUH finished the game with four double-figure scorers with Emanuel Miller having 11 points and Jameer Nelson, Jr. adding 10 with two 3-pointers. TCU was 11-for-20 on 3-pointers on the night and had a 14-0 scoring advantage on second-chance baskets.

“They were scoring at a rate tonight that had us on our heels,” McCasland said. “We didn’t do a good enough job rebounding a being physical.”

TCU took a 40-36 lead into halftime in a first half that saw the Red Raiders lead by as many as 11 before the Horned Frogs fought back to take a seven-point lead. Isaacs led Tech with 12 points after making two first-half 3-pointers while McMillian also connected on two 3-pointers and had eight points. Williams and Washington added six points each for the Red Raiders who shot 13-for-24 from the field and 6-for-12 on 3-pointers through 20 minutes. Toussaint had four assists in a 10-assist first half for Tech. TCU opened the game with a 5-0 run before a runner by Washington got the Red Raiders on the board for the first time and back-to-back 3-pointers by Williams had the game at 10-10. A reverse layup by Isaacs gave Tech its first lead with the team shooting 6-for-8 from the field at the first media timeout. McMillian made his first 3-pointer of the half to give Tech a 19-14 lead and an Isaacs 3-pointer pushed the lead to 22-16. Tech was on an 8-0 when Isaacs made his second 3-pointer for a 27-16 lead before TCU went on an 11-0 run to tie the game. McMillian stopped the run with his second 3-pointer for a 30-27 game but another TCU run that was extended to 21-2 with a Nelson 3-pointer for a 37-30 lead. Tech would get a layup from Walton off an assist from Washington with four second remaining in the half to close to within four at the break.

After halftime, Tech went on a 9-3 run to cut the TCU lead to 48-47 with Isaacs starting it with a 3-pointer and then three straight dunks by Washington. His third was an alley-oop from Williams and gave him 12 points. The Horned Frogs answered though, going on a 10-0 run that started on an Anderson 3-pointer and increased when Coles hit a jumper. McMillian stopped the run with a 3-pointer and was followed by Isaacs making his fourth of the game to make it a 63-57 game with 11:27 to play. McMillian drilled his fourth 3-pointer to cut the score to 67-60 and his fifth to make it 69-63 with 9:07 remaining. Isaacs dished out his eighth assist with a pass in the lane to Washington for a dunk and then had 23 points with his fifth 3-pointer that trimmed TCU’s lead to 75-70 with 4:09 remaining in the game. A Nelson 3-pointer pushed that margin to 79-70 before an immediate response by Walton with a 3-pointer. Walton kept the Red Raiders in it with his second 3-pointer, this time trimming the game to 81-78 with 16 seconds remaining. TCU closed out the game with four straight free throws.

Texas Tech will be hosting Cincinnati for the first time ever when the two new Big 12 foes meet up on Saturday. The programs have met only once, in the 1961 NCAA Tournament where the Bearcats won 78-55 in Lawrence, Kansas. The Red Raiders are currently 11-0 at home this season after their comeback win over No. 21 BYU two weeks ago. The Bearcats (14-6, 3-4 Big 12) play at West Virginia on Wednesday before coming down to Texas for the weekend.

Release Provided By WES BLOOMQUIST Texas Tech Athletics