Red Raider Recap: Tech 91, Longwood 60

Wednesday, December 21

United Supermarkets Arena

4:00 PM

Texas Tech Athletics

11-1

Longwood

3-8

Longwood

Texas Tech

Red Raider Recap: Tech 91, Longwood 60

December 21, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Game12Longwood-TexasTechBoxScore December21PostgameQuotes

The Red Raiders have had at least four players reach double figures in nine of 12 games this season.

LUBBOCK, Texas – Anthony Livingston provided 19 points and a career-best six assists as the Texas Tech men's basketball team secured its eighth consecutive straight win during a 91-60 decision over Longwood on Wednesday at the United Supermarkets Arena.

The Red Raiders (11-1), who are receiving votes in this week's USA Today/Coach Top 25 poll, extended their nonconference home winning streak to 28 dating back to the 2013-14 season. Texas Tech has won 23 of those outings by 10-plus points.

The Red Raiders dominated the battle of the boards for the third straight game and outrebounded Longwood (3-8) by 42-18 margin which included a season-high tying 16 offensive boards.

"That will be the secret of our team," Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. "I sit here today, and I don't know if we're ready to play in the best league [Big 12] in college basketball. I do have a lot of confidence that our players are willing to put in the work and continue to improve as the season goes on. I think we're a better team today than we were in November, and we've got to be a better team in January than we were in December. We've got to be playing our best basketball in late February and March. That's the objective."

For Livingston, the 19 points was his third highest scoring output of the season. He knocked down four of Texas Tech's eight three-pointers during the game.

Zach Smith tucked away 15 points and 12 rebounds to notch back-to-back double-doubles for the first time in his career. It also marked Smith's Big 12-leading fifth double-double of the season.

Aaron Ross collected 14 points on a 5-of-7 shooting effort off the bench whereas Keenan Evans tallied 11 points for his team-leading ninth game in double figures this season.

Norense Odiase was effective and efficient during his season debut. The Fort Worth native registered eight points, two rebounds and two assists in 11 minutes of action.

"I was just really pleased with Norense," Beard said. "He basically took the same approach as [Aaron] Ross did coming back from his injury. With younger guys, you worry that they're going to get out there and try to do too much or play outside of themselves. I thought it was very obvious today that Norense was calm. He played within the team concepts. He didn't force anything. He had a really productive game per minute played. So, just like I was with Ross when he came back, I was really impressed with Norense's professionalism and maturity. It looked like he was just trying to get out there and get his feet wet."

Matthew Temple picked up six points and four rebounds, while Niem Stevenson added four points and a season's best six assists. Texas Tech scored 36 of the game's 49 bench points.

Devon Thomas turned in a solid all-around effort with four points, three assists and a career-high five steals for the Red Raiders. Justin Gray managed six points, a career-best five assists and four rebounds.

Texas Tech distributed a season-high 25 assists on its 36 baskets. The Red Raiders converted on 36-of-65 overall and dialed up an 8-of-18 clip from three-point territory. Texas Tech was 11-of-17 at the free throw line. The Red Raiders possessed a healthy 20-3 edge in points off turnovers.

Longwood garnered a 23-for-49 shooting performance, was 8-for-20 on three-pointers and 6-for-10 from the charity stripe. The Lancers had three players pile up double figures sparked by Chris Shields' 15 points followed by Khris Lane and Isaiah Walton at 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Longwood knocked down 6 of its first 7 shot attempts and led by as many as four points during the opening minutes. The Red Raiders clamped down on the defensive end and forced the Lancers to misfire on 15 of their closing 19 attempts of the opening half.

Ahead 14-13 at the 13:53 mark, Texas Tech reeled off 18 of the next 21 points over the next 7:00 off the clock. Ross got the momentum rolling with two free throws and a layup off an inbounds play courtesy of Stevenson. Then, Temple got a putback layup before Evans drove in for a dunk to make it 22-13 with 11:56 remaining.

Ross stepped back for a 15-foot turnaround jumper late shot clock and bookended the flurry with a triple from Stevenson to give the Red Raiders a 32-16 edge with 6:29 to go.

Texas Tech took a 43-25 halftime advantage with the quartet of Evans, Livingston, Ross and Smith who accounted for 32 of the team's 43 points. The Red Raiders amassed all 11 points off turnovers and on second chance opportunities during the opening 20 minutes.

Texas Tech kept pushing and stretched its lead to 62-33 on an Odiase jumper with 14:25 left. The Red Raiders took their largest lead at 91-58 at the 3:37 mark. Stevenson drove baseline for a contested reverse layup and turned a steal into a dunk 15 seconds apart.

"It's unselfish basketball," Beard said. "Whenever you have 36 baskets and 25 assists; that means you're sharing the ball. You're making the extra pass, and there's not a lot of one-on-one basketball going on. Some of that was because they [Longwood] were in zone defense, which leads to more assists. I thought our guys were dialed in offensively tonight against their man too. We had some great motion baskets and multiple people get assists. There were some positives there."

Texas Tech travels to Iowa State for its Big 12 opener on Dec. 30. It marks the first time the Big 12 play has started in December. Tip time is slated for 5 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised by ESPNEWS along with the Watch ESPN app.

Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the men's basketball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/TexasTechMBB along with @TexasTechMBB on Twitter and Instagram.