RECAP: No. 11 Red Raiders 84, Oklahoma State 80 (OT)

Wednesday, February 27

Lubbock, Texas

6 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

23-5, 11-4

Oklahoma State

10-18, 3-12

OT 1

Oklahoma State

Texas Tech

RECAP: No. 11 Red Raiders 84, Oklahoma State 80 (OT)

February 27, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score BIG 12 STANDINGS PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech's Davide Moretti scored 20 points after going 12-for-12 at the free-throw line, Jarrett Culver recorded his third double-double of the season and Tariq Owens provided 16 points and six rebounds in an 84-80 overtime win by the No. 11 Red Raiders in a game that was tied at 71 after regulation on Wednesday at the United Supermarkets Arena.

The Red Raiders (22-5, 11-4 Big 12) extended their winning streak to six games with the victory, improved to 16-1 at home this season and are now tied with Kansas State (11-4 Big 12) atop the conference standings going into this weekend's game at TCU. Tech committed only seven turnovers and owned a 44-34 rebounding advantage, but the Cowboys (10-18, 3-12 Big 12) finished the game making 17 3-pointers including a last-second one by Lindy Waters to force overtime. Texas Tech, which finished the month of February with a 6-1 record, finished the game 25-for-32 (78.1 percent) from the free-throw line, including going 5-for-6 in its first overtime session of the season.

"I think we have shown a lot of balance and we have different guys stepping up," Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. "We continue to be a good defensive team. Oklahoma State really stretched us with that 3-point shot. A lot of respect for Oklahoma State, a team that has zero quit in them. I've said consistently I think they're going to be a factor in the championship in Kansas City. Tonight, our guys found a way to play, and found a way to win when the other team was playing lights out."

Owens would lead the Red Raiders with five points in overtime with a dunk on the first possession, a layup of an offensive rebound for a two-point lead with 3:23 remaining and then a free throw for a three-point lead a minute later. Matt Mooney scored four of his six points in overtime, making his first overtime layup with 1:13 remaining and then his next with 34 seconds to play. Tech led by two after Mooney's layup before Moretti iced the game by making four straight free throws in the final 20 seconds to secure the game.

Moretti finished the game a career-high 12 free throws and is now shooting 78 of 84 (92.9 percent) at the line this season. He recorded a conference-high also despite only going 3-for-4 from the field including being 2-for-2 on 3-pointers. He hit his second 3-pointer with 2:26 left in regulation to give the Red Raiders a four-point lead and would also make four free throws in the final 20 seconds to give the team a 71-68 lead before Waters extended the game five minutes. Culver recorded his fifth career double-double by going for 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Odiase had eight rebounds and eight points in the win. Texas Tech finished the game shooting 41.8 percent from the field, but was only 3-for-19 on 3-pointers a game after matching a program-best with 16 in the win over Kansas last Saturday. Mooney also added six assists for the second straight game and sixth time this season.

The Red Raiders had eight players score in the game, including getting seven from Deshawn Corprew who also finished with three rebounds while Brandone Francis and Kyler Edwards both had four. Owens has now scored in double figures in four straight games and finished with two blocked shots to extend his block streak to all 28 games this season. He now has 66 blocks on the season which is fourth all-time at Tech for a single season, behind only Tony Battie who set the single-season record with 71 blocks in the 1996-97 season, Brodney Kennard who had 69 blocks in 1999-2000 and Battie who is third on the list with 68 blocks in the 1995-96 campaign. Culver, who also scored 19 in the win at Oklahoma State in the first matchup, has now scored in double figures in 14 straight games and has double-digit rebounds in three games this season. He leads the Red Raiders with 18.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game this season.

It felt like March tonight.

Survived and advanced.#4To1

??#WreckEm?? pic.twitter.com/vIkykeCANZ
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) February 28, 2019

Texas Tech led 37-27 at halftime with Culver leading the team with nine points after starting the game on a 5-0 scoring run of his own, while Owens had nine points and three rebounds. Odiase had six points and four rebounds and Corprew had four for the Red Raiders who were shooting 40 percent from the field. The Cowboys were down only 10 after knocking down seven 3-pointers to overcome a 24-14 rebounding advantage by the Red Raiders who were only 2-for-10 from beyond the arc.

Culver, who also had five rebounds in the first half, started the game on a 5-0 run with a jumper and 3-pointer. The Red Raiders would go on a 6-0 run to take a 13-7 lead on a Corprew layup and had another 8-0 run on a Culver jumper for a 33-22 lead with 3:36 remaining in the half. The lead was at 13 on an Owens putback where Culver had three offensive rebounds on his own misses before Owens grabbed the fourth offensive board of the possession and scored. The Red Raiders had only three turnovers in the half, was 7-for7 from the free-throw line and had eight assists on 14 field goals.

Texas Tech swept the season series against the Cowboys after also earning a 78-50 win on Feb. 13 in Stillwater. It was the first sweep of OSU since 2016 and only the third time in program history.
Texas Tech has matched a program-best with 11 conference wins in a season.
The Red Raiders improved to 51-48 all-time in overtime games with the win, including going to 4-2 in OT under Beard. It was the first overtime game of the season and first since a 73-71 win over Texas last season.
Texas Tech has led by double-digits at halftime for five straight game.
Oklahoma State was the first team to score 80 points against the Red Raiders this season.

Texas Tech will return to action against TCU at 3 p.m. on Saturday in Fort Worth before hosting Texas at 8 p.m. on ESPN's Big Monday for the home finale at the United Supermarkets Arena.

No one said it had to be pretty, and in this league they usually aren't.

Another step closer. #4To1

??#WreckEm?? pic.twitter.com/n1NEd8tjHE
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) February 28, 2019

TEXAS TECH HEAD COACH
Chris Beard

On the team's play in the last six games:
"I think we have shown a lot of balance and we have different guys stepping up. We continue to be a good defensive team. Tonight, Oklahoma State really stretched us with that 3-point shot. A lot of respect for Oklahoma State, a team that has zero quit in them. I've said consistently I think they're going to be a factor in the championship in Kansas City. Tonight, our guys found a way to play, and found a way to win when the other team was playing lights out."

On contributions from different players to win the game:
"Moro is one of our best players, and to win games like this, your best players have to play well. Tonight, we had great contributions from a lot of people. I think Matt had a high assist game, and very few turnovers. Tariq had his energy. Norense was filling the stat sheet up. When Oklahoma State went small ball down the stretch, the coaching decisions. We got contributions from a lot of different people tonight."

On Davide Moretti:
"Moro is one of our best players. He's had an individual season worthy of All-Big 12 recognition, in my opinion. He's been consistent, and he's had a great offseason to prepare physically and mentally for this year. He's somebody that I have a lot of trust in, but probably more impressive, is he's our starting point guard. He's led us back to where we're relevant in college basketball in March. He's a guy who refused to believe that we were going to be 9th or 10th place in the Big 12."

On blocking out outside voices:
"There's a lot of outside voices, especially this time of year, on teams that maybe haven't had the best of seasons, and good teams stay focused. This is exactly what we saw with Oklahoma State tonight. I saw it all week in preparation, zero quit. On the flip side, you have a team like ours that's had some success this year. You're only as good as your last game, your last practice, your last rep, and we just have to continue being who we are. I've always thought you can learn from a victory just like you can from a defeat, and that's what we'll try to do in the next 24 hours."

Davide Moretti

Thoughts on the win over Oklahoma State:
"Preparation. We have to be ready for this moment. We have to put the work in every single day and come out and play hard. We didn't do this today but we just have to turn around and think about the next game."

On when Lindy made that 3 what was the teams mentality going into overtime:
"We had to foul him. We were trying to foul him but the ref didn't call it. Anyways, we probably should've made it clear that we were trying to foul him."

On going 12-for-12 at the free-throw line:
"Like I was saying earlier. Just preparation. My workouts are usually shooting a lot of free throws and I have a lot of confidence when I shoot the ball and in these moments I'm not scared about it."

MIKE BOYNTON JR.
Oklahoma State Basketball Head Coach

Opening Statement:
"I think Texas Tech is a national championship contender. I think they have all the tools to be playing in the final weekend of the season."

On the fight for this game from the team:
"It goes to the character of the kids. We have obviously not had a great season, to this point, but they care about the right things. They work really hard. They want to represent the university, the program in the right way. I'm proud to be there coach and look forward to getting back to practice tomorrow."

On Lindy Waters' 3-pointers at the end:
"I think Lindy's capable of doing that, maybe not to that extreme in those circumstances every night, but I believe in his ability at a really high level. That he made the shots I'm not surprised, but that he did it the way he did it and the fact that we needed every one, last one with the guy hanging over him as the buzzer goes off He's certainly the reason we had a chance tonight."

On what they could've done to get the win:
"You look at the stat sheet, the first thing that jumps out is the points in the paint. They dominated us inside, I don't want to take anything away from them because they were just better than us. But having our big kid in foul trouble didn't help that cause, he's one of the better shot blockers in the league, so if you have a guy like that in there, cause them to have to adjust their shots a bit more. They just made more plays, you have to give credit to the team who wins and tonight they won the game."

THOMAS DZIAGWA
On OSU's performance:
"It shows a lot about the character of the guys we have in the locker room and the coaching staff, the walk-ons and managers. We didn't come out with a win today but we always fight."

On his thoughts on the game against Texas Tech:
"A good team beat us, all credit to them. The character of the guys in the locker room is what matters. We will learn from this game, win or lose. All we can do is keep trying to be better. We will be on the court tomorrow getting ready for Saturday."

LINDY WATERS
On his thoughts on the game against Texas Tech:
"We were just trying to win the game. It could have been any of us, Thomas or Cameron, to hit those shots. I didn't have any doubt we would win the game. Now we are just going to focus on the next one coming up."