Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
Texas
Red Raiders Fall To No. 8 Longhorns
March 10, 2006 | Men's Basketball
March 10, 2006
DALLAS (AP) - LaMarcus Aldridge dominated both ends of the court, scoring 20 points, grabbing 16 rebounds and disrupting countless possessions, sending No. 8 Texas past Texas Tech 77-70 Friday in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament.
The Longhorns (26-5) appeared headed to their third rout of the Red Raiders (15-17) this season, but Knight's team rallied for a brief lead and were tied with 8:29 left. Texas went back ahead by 11, then Tech - led by Jarrius Jackson's 28 points - got within four twice in the final minute.
By holding off the late rally, the top-seeded Longhorns tied the school record for wins in a season. They'll get a chance to break it Saturday in a semifinal against the winner of the Texas A&M-Colorado quarterfinal later Friday.
The Red Raiders finished with three more losses than any team in Knight's 40 seasons. It was his first losing season since going 11-13 with Army in 1970-71 and it was his fewest wins since that same season. He's also probably going to miss the postseason for the first time since 1976-77.
Knight ends the season with 869 career victories, third on the men's major-college list behind Dean Smith (879) and Adolph Rupp (876).
Daniel Gibson scored 18 points for Texas and Kenton Paulino scored 13. P.J. Tucker, who received his Big 12 player of the year award in a pregame ceremony, had 10 points and 13 rebounds. A.J. Abrams added 10 points and eight assists.
Despite all their contributions, the game belonged to Aldridge.
He had several series in which he followed a great defensive play with a basket, drilled long jumpers and made tough baskets inside. His timing was good, too, as many of his best plays came when the Longhorns were either trying to hold off the Red Raiders or were pulling away.
Aldridge made 8 of 13 shots, with most of his misses errant tip-in attempts. He had 10 offensive rebounds, blocked two shots and stole a pass.
Jackson, the Big 12 leading scorer, bounced back from an awful shooting game in the opening round and made 8-of-16 shots. He was 6-of-8 on 3-pointers.
Alan Voskuil had 14 and Darryl Dora had 11 before fouling out with 13:59 left. Tanner Ogden earned his first start since mid-December with a great came Thursday, but was 1-of-8 for only three points in a career-high 32 minutes.
The Longhorns won the two previous matchups by 34 and 21, and appeared to be headed toward another easy one when they broke an early tie with a 15-2 spurt. Then the Red Raiders opened the second half by making seven of their first eight shots, four of them 3-pointers, to get within two.
After Tech went ahead 50-49, Gibson immediately hit a 3 to put Texas back in front. Then Aldridge broke up a pass, hustled back and turned a rebound into his first big dunk of the game. The Red Raiders had one last spark, tying it at 54, then the Longhorns answered with a 10-0 run.
This is the fifth time Texas has won 26 games. It was last done by the T.J. Ford-led team that went to Final Four in 2003.
