Red Raider Recap: No. 7 Tech 76, Iowa State 58

Wednesday, February 7

United Supermarkets Arena

8:00 PM

Texas Tech Athletics

20-4 (8-3B12)

Iowa State

12-11 (3-8B12)

Iowa State

Texas Tech

Red Raider Recap: No. 7 Tech 76, Iowa State 58

February 08, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Highlights Coach Beard Press Conference Jarrett Culver & Niem Stevenson Press Conference Texas Tech Quotes Iowa State Quotes

The Red Raiders have won five in a row and remain in a first-place tie with Kansas.

LUBBOCK, Texas – The freshmen duo of Jarrett Culver and Zhaire Smith combined for 37 points, 13 rebounds and five assists as the No. 7 Texas Tech men's basketball team captured a 76-58 win over Iowa State on Wednesday at United Supermarkets Arena.

The Red Raiders (20-4, 8-3 Big 12) extended their winning streak to five consecutive games and are the first Big 12 team to the 20-win plateau. The last time Texas Tech reached the 20-win mark was during the 2006-07 season. The Red Raiders also kept pace with 13-time defending champion Kansas in the Big 12 standings.

Texas Tech has secured victories in 20 of its first 24 games for the third time in program history. This year's squad joins the 1953-54 team under Polk Robison which also started with a 20-4 record. The 1995-96 team under James Dickey registered a 30-1 start ignited by a program-record 23-game winning streak.

The Red Raiders ended a three-game losing streak to Iowa State (12-11, 3-8 Big 12). The Cyclones are the last Big 12 team for second-year coach Chris Beard to defeat.

"I'm appreciative of the crowd tonight," Beard said. "Another great Big 12 crowd. Our attendance, we are so proud of it. I'm really appreciative of our players too. They are the ones that are having this kind of season that people want to come out and support them. I give our players a lot of credit for the increase in attendance … Hopefully, everyone is having some fun. We're going to try to keep this thing rolling. It's a special time of the year for college basketball when you're relative. We've worked really hard in our second year here, and I think we're relative in the month of February. I'm very appreciative of our crowd. I'm pleased to win tonight. We have a lot of respect for Iowa State's program. Some of their key players are out. They still played courageous and played really hard. We knew it was going to be a 40-minute game, and it ended up being one. A lot of respect for their players and their coach. We're just pleased to get another Big 12 victory."

For Smith, he piled up a career-high 21 points on an efficient 7-of-8 from the floor and knocked down all six of his free throw attempts. Smith's previous career-best was 17-point outing against Savannah State on Nov. 25. He also stuffed the box score with eight rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks.

Culver tucked away 16 points, five rebounds and three assists over his 29 minutes of action. He connected on 5-of-8 shooting and also hit on 6-of-7 at the free throw line. The Lubbock native has reached out double figures in four of his last seven outings.

Keenan Evans, the two-time reigning Big 12 Player of the Week, delivered 15 points and four assists. He dialed up 13 of his 15 points during the second half and scored Texas Tech's last eight points over the closing 2:35.

Niem Stevenson provided a spark off the bench with nine points and five rebounds. His nine points was his highest scoring output since the Baylor game on Dec. 29. Brandone Francis tacked on five points to give the Red Raiders a 16-3 edge in bench points, while Justin Gray chipped in six points, three assists and two steals.

As a team, Texas Tech managed a 29-for-59 shooting performance but was limited to a 2-for-11 clip from three-point territory. The Red Raiders drained 16-for-19 on free throws and piled up 48 of their 75 points in the paint. Texas Tech also forced the Cyclones into 15 turnovers and ripped off 22 of the game's 26 points off turnovers.

Iowa State was 22-of-57 from the floor, 4-of-14 on three-pointers and 10-of-17 at the charity stripe. The Cyclones were fueled Cameron Lard's game-leading 22 points coupled with five rebounds and two blocks. Lindell Wigginton added 13 points, six rebounds and five assists for Iowa State.

"He's (Zhaire Smith) getting better," Beard said. "It sounds like Captain Obvious, but it's what everyone wants to do. Your team wants to get better throughout the year, and each individual player wants to get better. Z (Zhaire) is doing that. Sometimes, that's a challenge when you're young in your career because you kind of hit a wall at some point. I have a lot of confidence in our young guys that they will keep on pushing through. I think a lot of credit goes to them. Everyone is working hard on these guys and making sure that their days are efficient. That fine line between working and resting, but I think our young guys are doing a great job. I give Chris Williams (our athletic trainer) and John Reilly (our strength coach) a lot of that credit for that too."

Ahead 45-44 at 15:01 mark, Texas Tech fired out with 10 of the next 13 points over the next 3:36 to stretch the lead to eight points. The Red Raiders turned defense into offense as Smith got a steal, outletted the ball to Culver who gave it back to Smith for a highlight reel alley-oop dunk in transition.

Then, Evans used a screen to split the defense and drove in for a two-handed jam of his own. Smith tacked on a traditional three-point play, and Culver sank a pair of free throws to make it 55-47 with 10:11 remaining.

Iowa State crept back to within 57-53 after a Lard putback slam with 7:09 left. However, the Red Raiders answered with 19-5 spurt over the last 6:14 to close out the 18-point victory.

This time, Smith used the pump fake pass to shed two defenders and found Gray for a wide-open layup to spark the flurry. Culver, Evans and Smith combined for five throws to extend the advantage to double figures at 64-53 with 5:00 to go.

Culver and Stevenson provided layups before Evans closed the contest with eight straight points to put the finishing touches on the 76-58 win. Texas Tech has won 15 of its 20 games by double figures.

"You can't win in this league if you rely on your offense to score you enough points to win," Beard said. "Some games in this league you have to score 70 points, sometimes 80. You might even need to score 90 points to win. You can never just rely on your offense to get those points. You have to produce offense from your defense. Tonight, in key moments, that seemed to be the case. That goes back to being aggressive and playing the game the right way."

UP NEXT
Texas Tech begins a stretch of three of its next four on the road and takes on Kansas State on Saturday. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. CT from Bramledge Coliseum. The game will be televised by ESPNU and 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.