Red Raiders down Demons

Friday, November 8

Lubbock, Texas

8 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

2-0,0-0Big 12

Northwestern State

1-1,0-0Southland

Northwestern St.

Texas Tech

November 08, 2024 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights Press Conference

By: Wes Bloomquist

LUBBOCK – JT Toppin went for 25 points and seven rebounds, Darrion Williams knocked on the door of a triple-double, Kevin Overton scored 19 points and Chance McMillian added 13 points and eight rebounds for Texas Tech in an 86-65 win over Northwestern State in a game it never trailed on Friday at United Supermarkets Arena.

The Red Raiders (2-0) owned a 42-16 scoring advantage in the paint in the 21-point win where they made 10 fewer 3-pointers than in the season-opener with Toppin leading the way by shooting 10-for-11 from the field for the fourth game in his career with 20 or more points. Williams had a career-high 11 assists and also contributed eight points and eight rebounds. McMillian's eight rebounds were one shy of his career-high and Overton was aggressive getting to the basket and getting fouled, finishing the game 8-for-9 at the free-throw line.

"I was thrilled with how our guys competed and finished the game when they cut it to 10 and we stretched it out," Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. "I love our team and we'll keep getting better. Tonight was a figure-it-out type of game. Find a way to win the game in a gritty way and let's get on to the next one."

Toppin's 25 points were two points away from matching his career-high 27 points he scored last season as a freshman at New Mexico and followed his 19-point debut on Tuesday in the win over Bethune-Cookman. He is now 18-for-24 (78.3 percent) shooting through two games where he's averaging 22.0 points and 7.5 rebounds to lead the Red Raiders in both categories. Kerwin Walton added 11 points with three 3-pointers after leading Tech in the opener with seven 3-pointers and 21 points, while McMillian was 5-for-7 from the field to finish in double figures for the second straight game. Devan Cambridge made his first start, going for five points in the game to take his career total to 993 points and Federiko Federiko finished with five points, four rebounds and three steals.

Williams, who had six assists before scoring his first points in the game, is now averaging 12.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 9.5 assists per game this season. On Friday, he established his new career-high for assists and had only three turnovers. He struggled shooting going 1-for-11 from the field but went 6-for-6 at the line and matched McMillian for the team lead with his eight rebounds.

"The part that I loved the most was his defensive rebounding," McCasland said about Williams. "Sometimes your defense can deteriorate when you're not shooting well and I thought his was the opposite tonight. He may not have made shots and pressed a little bit to score, but man he came up with some big rebounds in the paint for us. His ownership to how our team is playing is great. I know his heart is to help this team. He put us in position to do the right things and almost had a triple-double. This dude helps us to win. I love coaching him. He's a find-a-way guy."

Tech took a 42-28 lead into halftime with Toppin at 12 points and Williams leading the team with six assists. Walton hit two 3-pointers and had eight points at the break, while McMillian had seven, Overton was at six points and three rebounds and Cambridge scored five. Toppin went into the break shooting 5-for-6 from the field and with two of three rebounds coming on the offensive end. Tech was shooting 55.2 percent from the field and 4-for-10 on 3-pointers and had limited Northwestern State to only 35.7 percent shooting, including just 2-for-8 on 3-pointers. The Demons had a slim 18-17 rebounding advantage but had committed eight turnovers. Tech had only four turnovers to take the 14-point halftime lead. Walton opened the scoring with a 3-pointer and the lead grew to 21-9 with his second that extended a 9-0 run.

The Red Raiders played the game without Christian Anderson (lower body), Elijah Hawkins (lower body), Jazz Henderson (lower body) and Eemeli Yalaho (lower body). Anderson, Hawkins and Yalaho are listed as game-by-game decisions while Henderson will be out of action for an extended period.

Texas Tech continues its four-game homestand to start the season by hosting Wyoming at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the USA. The Cowboys are 7-5 all-time against the Red Raiders in the all-time series with the most recent meeting coming in 2002 – a 67-62 loss for Tech in Casper, Wyoming.

Follow the Red Raiders: Keep up with Tech men's basketball news at TexasTech.com and at the team's social media on Instagram, X and Facebook.