Red Raider Recap: Tech 85, Rice 84

Saturday, December 3

United Supermarkets Arena

1:00 PM

Texas Tech Athletics

7-1

Rice

6-2

Rice

Texas Tech

December 03, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Game8Rice-TexasTech December3RiceQuotes

The Red Raiders erased a five-point deficit in the final 20 seconds to snatch an 85-84 win over Rice.

LUBBOCK, Texas – Anthony Livingston racked up a career-high 33 points and sank three clutch free throws during the closing seconds to lift the Texas Tech men's basketball to a hard-fought 85-84 comeback victory over Rice Saturday as 10,048 fans gathered at the United Supermarkets Arena.

The Red Raiders (7-1) wiped away a five-point hole in the closing 20 seconds to tuck away the program's 25th straight nonconference home win going back to the 2013-14 season. The last time Texas Tech had over 10,000 fans for a nonconference game was against Cal State Bakersfield on Dec. 27, 2011.

For Livingston, he buried 10-of-17 from the floor and converted on 10-of-11 at the free throw line highlighted by all six of his attempts during the second half. The 33 points marked the first time a Texas Tech player eclipsed the 30-point mark since Mike Singletary also poured in 33 points during a 92-83 win at Iowa State on Jan. 26, 2011.

"First of all, I was really appreciative of the crowd. That's the best crowd we've had this season," Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. "It was just awesome. In college basketball, there's a relationship between attendance and winning. I really don't think we pull this out tonight if we have 2,000 or 3,000 people at the game. I'm very thankful to everybody who came tonight. It starts with our students. From where I was sitting, it looked like maybe our best student attendance of the year so far. I'm very, very appreciative of the home court advantage."

Keenan Evans registered 12 of his 14 points during the second 20 minutes to reach double figures for the sixth time in eight games this season. He also tallied two assists and two steals.

Texas Tech's top performer off the bench was Shadell Millinghaus who recorded nine points, four assists and a steal in 14 minutes of action. Niem Stevenson and Thomas Brandsma added six points and five points, respectively.

Justin Gray filled the box score with six points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals whereas Zach Smith garnered eight points and two blocks. The two blocks enabled Smith to move past Brodney Kennard and Devonne Giles into sole possession of third place on Tech's all-time list.

Devon Thomas passed out a career-high tying five assists for the third time this season. He also grabbed four rebounds over his 28 minutes of court time.

Trailing 84-79 with 25 seconds to play, Gray soared through the lane to grab a timely offensive rebound off an Evans missed three-pointer. Texas Tech took advantage of the second-chance opportunity when Thomas found Evans for a triple on the right wing to make it a two-point game at 84-82.

Rice's Connor Cashaw misfired on two free attempts with 13 seconds remaining. The Red Raiders got the ball to Livingston who was fouled on a three-pointer with 2.4 seconds left. After a video review to confirm Livingston was behind the three-point line, the graduate senior calmly knocked down all three free throws to vault Texas Tech to an 85-84 edge.

"Ant (Livingston) is the kind of guy who wants to be in that moment," Beard said. "Some guys shy away from that, some guys act like they do but they really don't. But Anthony wants to be in that moment. We have a thing in practice where I call a guy's name, and he has to shoot a free throw. Miss and everybody on the team runs. Ant wants me to call his name in those moments, I've never thought it's about that moment thinking 'I have to make this free throw', it's about the habits of your life. Do you put in time every day? Ant is a guy that's in the gym two to three hours a day on his own. I have a lot of confidence when he's on the line in a situation like that."

Rice used its last timeout to set up one final chance. The inbounds pass was deflected near midcourt and bounced to the Owls leading scorer, Marcus Evans, whose halfcourt heave ricocheted off the top of the backboard to secure Texas Tech's eighth consecutive win over its former Southwest Conference rival.

The Red Raiders hit on 29-for-53 from the floor and 7-for-16 from three-point territory. Texas Tech also pumped in 20-for-23 at the foul line ignited by a 15-for-16 clip in the second half.

Rice (6-2) connected on 15 of its 27 field goals from beyond the three-point line. The Owls were 15-of-19 at the charity stripe and held a 32-24 rebounding advantage. It marked the first time that Texas Tech was outrebounded by an opponent this season.

The second half was a back-and-forth affair that featured 10 ties and 10 lead changes. The two teams played within one possession for a majority of the final 14 minutes.

Texas Tech used a six-point flurry to turn a 76-73 deficit at the 4:31 mark into a 79-76 lead with 2:58 to go. Livingston kickstarted the charge with a putback layup in traffic. Smith added two foul shots to place the Red Raiders ahead, and Gray connected on a 12-foot jumper on the left elbow.

The Owls answered with eight straight points sparked by a Marcus Evans' traditional three-point play. Evans and Egor Koulechov fueled Rice with 37 of their 52 points in the second half. Evans would finish with 27 points and four assists, while Koulechov tacked on 25 points and six rebounds. It was two Evans free throws with 34 seconds on the clock that gave the Owls their five-point advantage at 84-79.

"Equally, I've been telling everybody that cared to listen this week how good I thought Rice was," Beard continued. "There's a reason they're 3-0 coming into this game on the road and 6-1 (overall). They have a legitimate pro prospect in (Marcus) Evans, and they have some really good college players. I'm very pleased to get the win. It obviously wasn't pretty. Give our guys a lot of credit for staying the course and giving ourselves a chance to win late. Hat's off to Rice – a really good team that's well coached. I'm glad we don't have to play them again. I'll be pulling for those guys for the remainder of the season."

Following Evans' second foul at the 10:31 mark of the first half, Texas Tech ripped off a 15-3 run over the next 4:39 to surge ahead 29-20. Livingston caught fire and provided 11 points during the spurt. He hit a jump hook in the lane, a three-ball at the top of the key and used the pump fake on a deep two-pointer where he was fouled.

Rice responded with 11 of the next 16 points to bring the margin back to 34-31 at halftime. The Owls made the most of five points from Koulechov and a four-point play courtesy of Evans.

"It validates the things we believe in," Beard said. "The culture of our team is based on unselfishness. We tell the guys every single day that unselfishness is not something you just are; you actively have to go do something. We have a thing on our team where every single day you have to do something for your teammate – whether it be give somebody a ride, buy somebody lunch, ask somebody how the family is back home, but you have to go out of your way to do something unselfish. Anthony, maybe more than any player I've ever coached, and he's really embraced it from day one. He was preaching our process his third day on campus. I'm proud of him tonight. I think last game he kind of struggled. He was the first one in my office the morning after the game. We were meeting bright and early (and I said) 'Hey trust yourself, trust the team.' It was nice to see some immediate work pay off for Ant."

Texas Tech continues its swing of in-state nonconference matchups with UTSA on Wednesday evening. Tipoff is on-tap for 7 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised by FOX Sports Southwest Plus along with the FOX Sports Go 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 and @TexasTechMBB on Twitter and Instagram.