Without Washington No. 23 Texas Tech Woe Continue vs No. 13 Baylor in Waco

WACO, Texas – No. 13 Baylor used a 13-0 run to turn a game that was tied at 51 midway through the second half into a 79-73 win over No. 23 Texas Tech on Tuesday at Foster Pavilion.

The Red Raiders (16-6, 5-4 Big 12) have now lost three in a row and are 3-3 this season against ranked opponents, while the Bears (17-5, 6-3 Big 12) improved to 12-1 at home in the first meeting between the two programs in their new arena. Baylor finished the game 24-for-32 at the free-throw line. Tech was 12-for-16.

Joe Toussaint led Tech with 18 points and six assists, while Darrion Williams had 17 points, Chance McMillian scored 15 points, and Pop Isaacs had 11 to give the Red Raiders four double-figure scorers in the game. Tech senior Warren Washington missed the game at Baylor due to illness after he had started all 21 games this season. Baylor finished the game with a 33-24 rebounding advantage and had a 36-20 scoring advantage in the paint.

Isaacs has now scored in double figures in 12 straight games and also added five assists against the Bears on Tuesday. Toussaint, who was limited to two points in the loss to Cincinnati, led the team for the fifth time this season after going 5-for-10 from the field and also 7-for-8 at the free-throw line. Tech would finish the night 26-for-53 (49.1 percent) from the field, 9-for-22 on 3-pointers, and was 12-for-16 at the free-throw line. McMillian hit a couple late 3s and finished the night 3-for-6 from beyond the arc.

Baylor shot 49.0% from the field, but was just 5-for-18 on 3-pointers with RayJ Dennis making two and leading the team with 21 points. Dennis was also 9-for-12 at the free-throw line, making the same amount of free throws as the entire Red Raider team. Yves Missi added 17 points and had a team-high seven rebounds, while Jayden Nunn had 14 points on 5-for-10 shooting.

He is leading the team with 7.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game along with adding 10.3 points per game. Washington had 14 points and six rebounds last Tuesday at TCU before contributing seven points and five rebounds against Cincinnati in the previous two games.

Baylor took a 36-35 halftime lead after going on a 6-0 run to end the first half where the Red Raiders lead by as many as six and finished the half shooting 12-for-24 from the field, 7-of-9 at the free-throw line, and 4-for-11 on 3-pointers. Williams led Tech with 11 points in the first half after going 4-for-5 from the field and 3-of-4 at the line, while Toussaint had 10 points with one 3-pointer and a 3-for-3 showing at the line. Isaacs and McMillian had five points each with one 3-pointer ,while Walton had three points. Isaacs was leading the team with three rebounds, while Toussaint had three assists to go along with his 10-point first half. Baylor finished the half 12-for-31 from the field (38.7%) and just 3-for-13 on 3-pointers. BU had a 20-12 rebounding advantage over the Red Raiders, including a 10-2 margin on offensive rebounds.

Walton hit Tech’s first 3-pointer of the game to cut Baylor’s lead to 14-11 and was followed by Toussaint responding to a BU jumper with an and-one, making a 3-pointer and hitting a free throw. Tech took its first lead with Isaacs burying a 3-pointer on the third straight trip down the court for an 18-16 lead six minutes into the game. Toussaint would give Tech a 23-21 lead with a runner going into the under-8 media timeout. The Red Raiders were 8-for-15 from the field and 3-for-5 on 3-pointers through 12 minutes of play.

McMillian hit his first 3-pointer of the game to give Tech a 28-24 lead before a runner in the lane by Isaacs pushed it to 30-25. Toussaint was the first in double figures with 10 points after making a pair of free throws for a 32-27 lead before he had an assist to Williams who made a jumper in the paint for a 35-30 advantage. Baylor finished the half on a 6-0 run, capping the run and first-half scoring with a dunk by Missi in the last seconds. Dennis was leading BU with eight points at the break while Messi and Nunn had seven points each. Tech came into the game with a 4-4 record when trailing at the half.

Isaacs tied the game at 40-40 with a runner in the lane early in the second half and then at 43-43 when he made a 3-pointer to respond to one from Dennis on the other end. The back-to-back baskets gave him 10 points for the game and pushed him into double figures for the 13th straight game. McMillian tied the game for the eighth time and was at seven points when he drove into the lane and hit a runner to tie the game at 49 -49 with 11:37 to play. Kyeron Lindsay would score his first points of the game and in Big 12 play with a dunk off an assist from Isaacs to tie the game at 51-51 with 10:25 on the clock before BU responded with a Nunn 3-pointer and a Missi dunk to lead 56-51 as the game crept under nine minutes and started their run where they pulled away.

The 13-0 Baylor run was at 9-0 with a Nunn jumper and then layup for a 60-51 lead and was pushed into double-digits with two free throws from Missi and then a layup from Walter – making the game 64-51 and forcing a Tech timeout with 6:35 on the clock. Williams finally stopped the run with a 3-pointer for the Red Raiders to bring it to 64-54 and hit another one to make it 72-60. A pair of McMillian 3-pointers cut into Baylor’s double-digit lead and had it at 74-66 with 1:42 remaining. Toussaint free throws made it 74-68 and then an and-one with a layup and free throw had the scoreboard at 76-71 with 53 seconds left.

Baylor is now 40-30 in the series history against Tech in Waco and trimmed the Red Raider advantage to 82-65 in the all-time series. The Bears will make a return trip to Lubbock on March 9 for the regular-season finale at United Supermarkets Arena.

Texas Tech returns to Lubbock for a two-game home stand starting against UCF at 3 p.m. on Saturday before an ESPN Big Monday matchup against No. 4 Kansas at 8 p.m. on Monday at United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders are currently 11-1 on their home court and will be playing UCF (13-8, 4-5 Big 12) for the first time in program history with the Knights joining the Big 12 this season.

Release Provided By WES BLOOMQUIST Texas Tech Athletics