RECAP: No. 15 Red Raiders 78, Oklahoma State 50

Wednesday, February 13

Stillwater, OK

8 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

Oklahoma State

Texas Tech

Oklahoma St.

RECAP: No. 15 Red Raiders 78, Oklahoma State 50

February 13, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score HIGHLIGHTS PRESS CONFERENCE

STILLWATER, Oklahoma – Texas Tech senior Matt Mooney made five 3-pointers, Davide Moretti had a career-high eight assists and the No. 15 Red Raiders hit a season-high 12 shots from beyond the arc in a 78-50 Big 12 Conference win over Oklahoma State on Wednesday at the Gallagher-Iba Arena.

The Red Raiders (20-5, 8-4 Big 12) were up 21 points at halftime and ran away with the game in the second half by going on a 15-0 run to start the half that had them leading 62-25 with 13:37 remaining. Tech, which has now won 20 or more games 13 times in program history and has outscored its last three conference opponents by a 23.7 scoring margin, finished the game shooting 51.8 percent from the field, including going 12-for-25 on 3-pointers. The defense limited the Cowboys (9-15, 2-9 Big 12) to 36.7 percent shooting and forced 14 turnovers, while the Red Raiders committed only eight turnovers in the game. The Red Raiders have now shot over 50 percent in nine games this season and have limited their opponents under 40 percent in 16 of 25 games.

"I think the biggest positive tonight, offensively, was that this a low-turnover game," Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. "We can't always count on making shots like we did tonight. Our guys put a lot of time in, so from time-to-time, we're going to have nights like tonight."

Texas Tech will return to action at 1 p.m. on Saturday against Baylor at the United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders are 13-1 on their home court this season and are 46-5 at the USA under Beard in the past three seasons.

Jarrett Culver led the Red Raiders with 19 points on a 7-for-12 shooting performance, while Mooney finished with 15 with a season-high five 3s. Tariq Owens led the Red Raiders with seven rebounds and added 11 points in a game where eight players scored. Moretti added nine points with three 3-pointers to go along with his assists and Norense Odiase scored eight and had three rebounds. Odiase was 4-for-4 from the free-throw line and the Red Raiders were 8-for-10 in the game. Mooney had two games during his time at South Dakota with five 3-pointers and now has 1,747 points in his collegiate career.

"Once we start making shots, we're really hard to guard," Mooney said. "Teams have to close out on us more, that lets us run in transition, they've got to close out on shooters faster which opens up driving lanes. We were able to get the ball inside and spray it around. We got hot tonight and played well offensively."

Moretti is the first Red Raider to have eight assists in a game since Toddrick Gotcher did against Iowa State in 2016. A sophomore from Italy, Moretti now has 104 assists in his career and four games this season with six or more assists. His previous career-high was seven three weeks ago against TCU. Owens added two blocked shots and now has 61 on the season. He's one of only four players in program history to have over 60 blocks in a season and is approaching the all-time single-season record where he is only behind Tony Battie who set the record with 71 in the 1996-97 season and Brodney Kennard who had 69 in 1999-2000.

Culver has now scored 857 points in his career through 62 games and has led the Red Raiders in scoring 18 times this season. He's averaging 17.7 points per game and has recorded double-digit scoring performances in 24 of 25 games. He's also leading the team with 6.2 rebounds per game after having three against the Cowboys.

The 28-point win was the second highest in conference play this season after last week's 31-point win over West Virginia and the 12 3-pointers are the most since last year when they hit 14 against Florida Atlantic. The Red Raiders improved to 4-3 on the road in conference play and has now won three straight with wins over WVU, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Cameron McGriff recorded a double-double for the Cowboys with 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Lindy Waters III had 12 points. The loss for OSU was the second largest ever at home behind only a 33-point defeat to Kansas on Feb. 19, 1966. The Red Raiders previous biggest margin over the Cowboys was a 24-point win back in 2002 and has now won against the Sooners and Cowboys in Oklahoma in the same season for the first time since 1997. Tech improved to 5-23 all-time against the Cowboys in Stillwater.

Texas Tech went into halftime with a 44-23 lead after hitting nine 3-pointers and having eight different players score in the half. Mooney finished the first half shooting 4-for-4 on 3-pointers and led the Red Raiders with 12 points at the break, while Moretti was 2-for-2 from beyond the arc and Edwards, Culver and Francis had one each. The Red Raiders were 9-for-14 on 3-pointers after 20 minutes, while Oklahoma State was 2-for-11 (18.2 percent) on 3-pointers and were being limited to 33.3 percent.

The 21-point lead at the break was the largest lead of the half for the Red Raiders who led by eight on a Mooney 3-pointer and by double-digits for the first time in the game on the next possession when Odiase threw down a dunk for a 22-12 lead. Tech's lead grew to 26-12 on a Moretti 3-pointer and it was a 17-point game when Mooney hit his third 3-pointer with 2:08 on the clock. Another Moretti 3-pointer gave the Red Raiders a 41-21 lead before Mooney's fourth 3-pointer with 37 seconds remaining made it 44-23. Mooney's four 3-pointers were a season-high at the break after he had two previous games this season with three from beyond the arc.

The halftime lead was the largest in conference play so far this season and the team has now won five of their last six games.

"I've got a lot of respect for Oklahoma State," Beard said. "They basically played us even in the second half. It's well-documented that they're a little undermanned right now. They have a lot of good, young players out there. I think they're going to be a part of the fight in the next few weeks. I don't think anyone wants to draw them in Kansas City (for the Big 12 Tournament). We've got to play them one more time. I just want to say on behalf of the our players and coaches that we have a lot of respect for this program. We're fortunate tonight to get another Big 12 road win."

The Red Raiders, who were 27-10 last season, have now won 20 or more games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since accomplishing it four straight years from 2001-05 under Bob Knight. Prior to that run, Tech had won 20 or more games two consecutive seasons only one other time in program history in 1975-76 and 1976-77 under head coach Gerald Meyers.

The Bears (16-8, 7-4 Big 12) are coming off a 59-53 win over Oklahoma on Monday and earned a 73-62 win over the Red Raiders in the first matchup between the two teams back on Jan. 19 in Waco. Tech is 79-58 all-time against Baylor, including owning a 45-19 advantage at home after taking the last two from BU in Lubbock.

Locked up 2??0?? wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2005!

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— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) February 14, 2019