Texas Tech University Athletics
Red Raider Recap: Texas 67, No. 8 Tech 58
January 18, 2018 | Men's Basketball
The Red Raiders were limited to a season-low 58 points during Wednesday’s game in Austin.
AUSTIN, Texas – Jarrett Culver nearly compiled his first career double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds, but the No. 8 Texas Tech men's basketball team was handed a 67-58 defeat by Texas on Wednesday at the Frank Erwin Center.
The loss sent the Red Raiders (15-3, 4-2 Big 12) into a second place tie with Oklahoma and West Virginia in the Big 12 standings, while Texas (12-6, 3-3 Big 12) captured its second consecutive home win over a ranked opponent. The Longhorns also have won 22 straight home games over Texas Tech dating back to the 1995-96 season when both programs were in the Southwest Conference.
"I want to congratulate Shaka and his team on a good Big 12 win," Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. "I thought they played great tonight. I also want to mention something that's a lot more important than basketball, and that's Andrew's health. Andrew and I share the same hometown of Irving, Texas. He and his family have been in our team prayer since this happened. We want Andrew to know that he has a lot of love and people in Lubbock praying for him."
For Culver, the 16 points and nine rebounds were Big 12 career-highs. The 16 points was the highest scoring output for Culver going back to the Seton Hall game on Nov. 30. Culver was 6-of-11 from the floor and knocked down a trio of three-pointers.
Zhaire Smith chipped in 13 points, seven rebounds and two assists followed by Brandone Francis who garnered 10 of his 13 points during the first half. It marked the second consecutive games in double figures for Francis.
Keenan Evans secured 11 points to extend his streak to 12 consecutive games in double figures. He was held to a 3-of-8 shooting clip and was forced into four turnovers.
Niem Stevenson picked up three points, three rebounds and two steals followed by Justin Gray's two points, three rebounds and two steals.
As a team, Texas Tech was 21-of-55 from the floor and 7-of-27 from beyond the three-point line. The 38.2 percent shooting clip was the second-lowest on the season and 27 three-point attempts were a season's best. The Red Raiders also connected on 9-of-15 on free throws and were matched in bench points at 29-29 for the first time on the season.
Texas managed a 23-for-45 shooting performance and was 6-for-15 on its three-point attempts. The Longhorns also corralled a 15-for-21 mark at the foul line and a healthy 32-20 edge in paint points.
Texas received a shot of adrenaline from Kerwin Roach II who pumped in a season-high 20 points and grabbed five rebounds off the bench in his return from a hand injury. Mohamed Bamba filled the box score with 15 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks and two steals whereas Dylan Osetkowski added 12 points and five rebounds.
The two teams would trade the lead five times during the game's opening nine minutes. An Evans jumper put the Red Raiders up 11-10 with 11:13 remaining.
Texas found its groove with nine of the next 10 points over the next 4:03 off the clock. Bamba fueled the run with a dunk and a layup coupled with a Roach II triple to bring the tally to 19-12 at the 7:10 mark.
The Red Raiders would get back within 21-19 with 3:16 left after back-to-back layups from Francis. However, Roach II countered with a traditional three-point play.
Texas would take a 29-24 lead into the locker room and use a five-point capped by a Roach II to extend the margin into double figures in the opening 62 seconds of the second half. The Longhorns led by as many as 13 at 45-32 with 12:36 to go following an Ostekowski dunk and free throw.
Texas Tech would work its way back into the game courtesy of an 11-2 spurt to bring the score back to 47-43 at the 7:43 mark.
Smith ignited the charge with a midrange jumper on the right elbow followed by a Culver trey on the left baseline to make it 45-37 with 10:30 remaining. After Evans tacked on three free throws, Smith found Francis for a triple on the right wing to draw the Red Raiders within four points.
At 53-48 with 4:54 to go, the Longhorns put the contest out of reach with a Roach II layup, two Roach II free throws and an Eric Davis, Jr. three-ball during a 59-second span to stretch their lead back to double digits.
"We cut it down to four, five points in the second half, and our players were playing really hard," Beard said. "Basketball is a game of making shots, and tonight we just couldn't make our shots. There were a lot of 50/50 balls, that's just basketball. I thought tonight was a night where we had to take a lot of jump shots because Texas camped out in the lane. We played a low-turnover game, but we didn't hit jump shots and couldn't get to the free throw line either. Our guys ran out of gas at the end. Victory favors the team that's more aggressive, and I thought that Texas was more aggressive than we were tonight."
UP NEXT
Texas Tech stays on the road with a Saturday trip to Iowa State. Tip time is slated for 1 p.m. CT from Hilton Coliseum, and the game will be televised by ESPNU along with the 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 by liking TexasTechMBB on Facebook along with following @TexasTechMBB on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.
The loss sent the Red Raiders (15-3, 4-2 Big 12) into a second place tie with Oklahoma and West Virginia in the Big 12 standings, while Texas (12-6, 3-3 Big 12) captured its second consecutive home win over a ranked opponent. The Longhorns also have won 22 straight home games over Texas Tech dating back to the 1995-96 season when both programs were in the Southwest Conference.
"I want to congratulate Shaka and his team on a good Big 12 win," Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. "I thought they played great tonight. I also want to mention something that's a lot more important than basketball, and that's Andrew's health. Andrew and I share the same hometown of Irving, Texas. He and his family have been in our team prayer since this happened. We want Andrew to know that he has a lot of love and people in Lubbock praying for him."
For Culver, the 16 points and nine rebounds were Big 12 career-highs. The 16 points was the highest scoring output for Culver going back to the Seton Hall game on Nov. 30. Culver was 6-of-11 from the floor and knocked down a trio of three-pointers.
Zhaire Smith chipped in 13 points, seven rebounds and two assists followed by Brandone Francis who garnered 10 of his 13 points during the first half. It marked the second consecutive games in double figures for Francis.
Keenan Evans secured 11 points to extend his streak to 12 consecutive games in double figures. He was held to a 3-of-8 shooting clip and was forced into four turnovers.
Niem Stevenson picked up three points, three rebounds and two steals followed by Justin Gray's two points, three rebounds and two steals.
As a team, Texas Tech was 21-of-55 from the floor and 7-of-27 from beyond the three-point line. The 38.2 percent shooting clip was the second-lowest on the season and 27 three-point attempts were a season's best. The Red Raiders also connected on 9-of-15 on free throws and were matched in bench points at 29-29 for the first time on the season.
Texas managed a 23-for-45 shooting performance and was 6-for-15 on its three-point attempts. The Longhorns also corralled a 15-for-21 mark at the foul line and a healthy 32-20 edge in paint points.
Texas received a shot of adrenaline from Kerwin Roach II who pumped in a season-high 20 points and grabbed five rebounds off the bench in his return from a hand injury. Mohamed Bamba filled the box score with 15 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks and two steals whereas Dylan Osetkowski added 12 points and five rebounds.
The two teams would trade the lead five times during the game's opening nine minutes. An Evans jumper put the Red Raiders up 11-10 with 11:13 remaining.
Texas found its groove with nine of the next 10 points over the next 4:03 off the clock. Bamba fueled the run with a dunk and a layup coupled with a Roach II triple to bring the tally to 19-12 at the 7:10 mark.
The Red Raiders would get back within 21-19 with 3:16 left after back-to-back layups from Francis. However, Roach II countered with a traditional three-point play.
Texas would take a 29-24 lead into the locker room and use a five-point capped by a Roach II to extend the margin into double figures in the opening 62 seconds of the second half. The Longhorns led by as many as 13 at 45-32 with 12:36 to go following an Ostekowski dunk and free throw.
Texas Tech would work its way back into the game courtesy of an 11-2 spurt to bring the score back to 47-43 at the 7:43 mark.
Smith ignited the charge with a midrange jumper on the right elbow followed by a Culver trey on the left baseline to make it 45-37 with 10:30 remaining. After Evans tacked on three free throws, Smith found Francis for a triple on the right wing to draw the Red Raiders within four points.
At 53-48 with 4:54 to go, the Longhorns put the contest out of reach with a Roach II layup, two Roach II free throws and an Eric Davis, Jr. three-ball during a 59-second span to stretch their lead back to double digits.
"We cut it down to four, five points in the second half, and our players were playing really hard," Beard said. "Basketball is a game of making shots, and tonight we just couldn't make our shots. There were a lot of 50/50 balls, that's just basketball. I thought tonight was a night where we had to take a lot of jump shots because Texas camped out in the lane. We played a low-turnover game, but we didn't hit jump shots and couldn't get to the free throw line either. Our guys ran out of gas at the end. Victory favors the team that's more aggressive, and I thought that Texas was more aggressive than we were tonight."
UP NEXT
Texas Tech stays on the road with a Saturday trip to Iowa State. Tip time is slated for 1 p.m. CT from Hilton Coliseum, and the game will be televised by ESPNU along with the 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 by liking TexasTechMBB on Facebook along with following @TexasTechMBB on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.
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