Red Raider Recap: Oklahoma 84, Tech 75

Saturday, January 14

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7:30 PM

Texas Tech Athletics

13-4 (2-3B12)

Oklahoma

7-9 (1-4B12)

Texas Tech

Oklahoma

Red Raider Recap: Oklahoma 84, Tech 75

January 15, 2017 | Men's Basketball

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By: The Red Raiders have dropped all three of their road games in Big 12 play.

NORMAN, Okla. – Keenan Evans and Zach Smith registered 16 points apiece, but the Texas Tech men's basketball team was handed an 84-75 setback by Oklahoma on Saturday at the Lloyd Noble Center.

The loss dropped the Red Raiders (13-4, 2-3 Big 12) into a sixth place tie with Kansas State in the Big 12 standings, while Oklahoma (7-9, 1-4 Big 12) ended a seven-game losing streak of its own.

"We got beat by a better team tonight," Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. "Oklahoma played well. They guarded us. They spread us out. Their best players stepped up. They were an inspired team looking for their first Big 12 win. Their best player was back in the starting lineup. Obviously we would have liked to have played better. I'm not going to sit here and say that that was the reason we lost. We lost tonight because Oklahoma outplayed us."

Smith nearly corralled his sixth double-double with 16 points and eight rebounds after being limited to 26 minutes of action due to foul trouble. He was 7-of-10 from the floor and has reached double figures in 11 of his last 13 outings.

Evans tacked on 16 points, five rebounds and two assists to bring his run of 10-plus to a career-long six consecutive games.

Anthony Livingston secured 14 points aided by a trio of three-pointers, while Devon Thomas pumped in 10 of his Big 12 career-best 12 points during the second half. Thomas also added four assists versus one turnover and picked up a pair of steals.

Aaron Ross chipped in eight of Texas Tech's 13 points off the bench whereas Justin Gray posted four points, three assists, three rebounds and two blocks in a limited 17 minutes. Gray was dealt his fourth foul early in the second half.

Texas Tech connected on 29-for-61 from the floor but only was able to knock down 6-for-25 on its three-point attempts. The Red Raiders hit on 11-for-14 at the free throw, held a 36-28 advantage in paint points but were outrebounded by a 39-27 margin.

Oklahoma sank 25-of-56 of its shots and were 4-of-14 from the three-point line. The Sooners used their aggressive play to live at the charity stripe where they drained 30-of-37 fueled by a 20-of-26 clip during the second half.

Jordan Woodard racked up 27 points d his first start back after he missed a five-game stretch due to injury. He did his damage at the line where he was a flawless 14-of-14 and filled the box score with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Woodard's running mate was Rashard Odomes who amassed 24 points, eight rebounds and four assists. The duo combined for a 15-of-27 shooting clip. Khadeem Lattin and Kameron McGusty managed 10 points each for the Sooners.

"It is really hard to stay in front of Woodard," Beard said. "He's one of the best players in the Big 12. I have so much respect for him. To come back from an injury like that, and it was obvious to me that he wasn't going to let his team lose tonight. Woodard, was special … Here's a guy that has gotten better from year one, two, three to four. He's just a tough matchup. He can really shoot the ball. We were so scared of him shooting that we tried to go over things. When you go over things, he's just hard to keep in front of."

The opening four minutes featured three ties and three lead changes before Oklahoma turned a 9-7 hole into a 24-13 lead with 17 of 21 points during a 6:18 span.

Trailing 33-21 at the 6:36 mark, the Red Raiders would make their move ignited by nine consecutive points to pull within one possession.

Smith kickstarted the spurt by showing off his athleticism on a tipin through traffic. Then, Gray found a cutting Thomas for a layup. Livingston hit a runner after being fouled for a traditional three-point play before Smith dialed up a deep two-ball on the left wing to make it 33-30 with 2:45 left.

A key play came late in the stanza with 1:09 remaining when Woodard stole an inbounds pass in the backcourt and was fouled on a layup. He made a quartet of free throws inside the final 69 seconds which gave Oklahoma a 41-35 halftime spread.

The Sooners kept the momentum and expanded their lead back to double figures at 54-42 during the opening three minutes of the second half.

Texas Tech would mount another rally and draw back to 59-56 with 10:16 to go capped by a Shadell Millinhaus driving layup off a baseline drive. Other key sequences to spark the run were three layups from Thomas, and a Thomas assist to Livingston for a triple.

The Sooners would rely on the Odomes and Woodard to bring home their first Big 12 win. The duo accounted for 20 of the team's closing 25 points to finish off the nine-point win.

"I thought we were on our heels," Beard said. "I have to go back and watch the film. What was most concerning to me was that it seemed like from where I was sitting that every loose ball Oklahoma got. I thought that they went and got fouled. I thought the officiating was fine. I just felt that the more aggressive team won. Victory favors the more aggressive team. Again, hats off to Oklahoma. We got outrebounded. We got beat on the 50/50 balls. We'll just have to get back to practice and try to fix some of these things."

Texas Tech will play its next two games at home starting with TCU on Wednesday at the United Supermarkets Arena. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised by FOX Sports Southwest 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 along with @TexasTechMBB on Twitter and Instagram.