Red Raider Recap: No. 18 Tech 74, Kansas State 58

Saturday, January 6

United Supermarkets Arena

3:00 PM

Texas Tech Athletics

14-1 (3-0B12)

Kansas State

11-4 (1-2B12)

Kansas State

Texas Tech

Red Raider Recap: No. 18 Tech 74, Kansas State 58

January 06, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Highlights Press Conference - Coach Beard Press Conference - Players Photo Gallery Coach Beard Quotes Texas Tech Player Quotes Kansas State Player Quotes Coach Weber Quotes

The Red Raiders improve to 3-0 in Big 12 play for the second time in program history.

LUBBOCK, Texas – Keenan Evans delivered 16 of his game-high 27 points during the second half, and the No. 18 Texas Tech men's basketball team validated its road win at Kansas earlier in the week with a 74-58 victory over Kansas State on Saturday at the United Supermarkets Arena.

The Red Raiders (14-1, 3-0 Big 12) have won their first three Big 12 games for the second time in program history and remain in a first place tie with West Virginia in the Big 12 standings. This year's team joined the 2003-04 squad under Bob Knight when Chris Beard served as an assistant coach.

Texas Tech piled up 34 of the game's 47 bench points, and the Red Raiders have amassed a 118-33 advantage during their first three Big 12 outings.

"I'm just really pleased to get another win in this league," Beard said. "These games are so hard to win. I don't think people understand how hard it is to win a game in the Big 12 conference. There is great preparation, and you have to play well. I just want to recognize our players tonight. I thought we had two great days of preparation, and our staff did a great job. Our players were dialed in during the first half, and we played some of the best basketball we have played all year. In the second half, I didn't think we played well. We have to give the opponent some credit for that … We found a way to win our third Big 12 Game. We are looking forward to the next one."

Evans surpassed the 20-point barrier for the fifth time this season and the 14th time in his career. He was an efficient 7-of-11 from the floor and knocked down 13-of-14 at the free throw line. The 27 points enabled Evans to move past Ronald Ross (2002-03-04-05) into 25th place on Texas Tech's all-time scoring list.

Zhaire Smith tucked away 11 points and six rebounds to extend his streak to 10 consecutive games in double figures. Jarrett Culver tacked on eight points followed by Brandone Francis' seven points and two rebounds. Davide Moretti also secured six points off the bench for the Red Raiders.

Zach Smith provided six points and five rebounds, while Norense Odiase contributed two points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

As a team, Texas Tech knocked down 24 of its 41 field goal attempts and hit on 16-of-23 during the opening 20 minutes. The Red Raiders were 6-of-17 from three-point territory and connected on 20-of-26 at the free throw line.

Kansas State sank 20-for-42 from the floor highlighted by a 12-for-22 shooting clip in the second half. The Wildcats were 4-for-13 on three-pointers and 14-for-23 from the charity stripe. Barry Brown, Jr. led the way with 24 points whereas Dean Wade notched 14 points and five rebounds.

Texas Tech fired out to a 17-4 lead in the game's opening 8:19 on the strength of a solid all-around effort on both ends of the floor. The Red Raiders buried seven of their first 10 shots and forced Kansas State to misfire on eight of their first 10 attempts.

Odiase opened the scoring with a steal that he took coast-to-coast where he finished with a spin move and a two-handed dunk.

Francis pushed the score to 9-2 with 15:26 remaining as he dialed up a trey from the top of the off the dribble. Then, Evans canned a triple of his own a minute later to push the lead to double digits.

The Red Raiders grabbed a 17-4 edge at the 11:41 mark after turning two standout defensive plays into dunks. A Niem Stevenson steal was outletted to Culver who found Zach Smith, while an Odiase block found its way to Culver through Evans for a jam.

Texas Tech stretched the lead to as much as 32-11 with 4:55 left on the heels off a 6-0 spurt. Evans drove to the basket and hit a runner through contact, while Zach Smith found Culver for a transition. The flurry was a capped by a Zhaire Smith putback layup.

The Red Raiders grabbed a 40-22 halftime lead, but Kansas State ripped off 13 of the first 15 points of the second half to draw back to 42-35 with 14:31 to go.

Texas Tech answered with a Stevenson free throw paired with a Moretti triple that got a friendly shooter's roll from the top of the key to make it 46-35 at the 13:30 mark.

Evans would take over down the stretch and tally all 16 of his second half points over the closing 11:30. He attacked the basket and converted on all 10 of his free throws attempts to wrap the 16-point victory.

Texas Tech controlled the battle of boards and corralled a double digit rebounding advantage for the third straight game. The Red Raiders have outrebounded the opposition by a 112-69 margin during their first three Big 12 games.

"It's a focus point of ours," Beard said. "We work on rebounding in every practice. We talk about it every time the guys come into film room. We know we have to rebound the ball at this level. You're not going to win the rebounding battle every night, but I think what we can do is compete. We've always been a defensively good rebounding team. We rebound the ball well down on that end. This year, we have more athleticism and more length. We're a better offensive rebounding team just based off of the players that we have. Give our guys all of the credit, they are the ones getting the rebounds. I do think our team, and our program has embraced rebounding more this year than years past."

UP NEXT
Texas Tech is scheduled to face a pair of Top 10 opponents next week starting Tuesday with No. 7 Oklahoma on Tuesday. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. CT from the Lloyd Noble Center, and the game will be televised by ESPNU.

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.