Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
1-0,0-0Big 12
Lindenwood
0-1,0-0OVC
No. 10 Red Raiders cruise to season-opening win
November 04, 2025 | Men's Basketball
LUBBOCK – Christian Anderson recorded his first career double-double with career highs of 34 points and 11 assists and No. 10 Texas Tech set a new program record by knocking down 17 3-pointers in a 98-60 season-opening win over Lindenwood on Tuesday at United Supermarkets.
The Red Raiders (1-0) owned a 59-43 rebounding advantage in the game, led by Nolan Groves who set a new Texas Tech freshman record with 16 rebounds in his collegiate debut. Donovan Atwell added 22 points after going 6-for-13 on 3-pointers and Leon Horner scored 10 points for his career-high. The Red Raiders finished the game shooting 17-for-45 on 3-pointers, surpassing the previous record of 16 3-pointers that had been set six previous times – including three times last season. Anderson made three of the 17 while Jaylen Petty, Groves and Horner made two each.
Texas Tech has now won 26 straight season openers and extended its non-conference home winning streak to 39 games.
"We went into this game with a scrap-mentality that we had to be great on defense and rebounding," Tech head coach Grant McCasland said. "The mentality of being physical without fouling. We had a size disadvantage. To out-rebound them like we did and come up with 23 offensive rebounds, I just thought our competitiveness in that area was were it needed to be. We've still got a long way to go and didn't play great offensively in the second half but I loved the way we shared the ball. We've got a great team and some great players who didn't even play. I'm looking forward to us continuing to improve as a group."
Anderson finished the game shooting 11-for-23 from the field and 9-of-11 at the free-throw line to surpass his previous career-high of 22 points last season against Arkansas in the Sweet 16 win. He also added seven rebounds and matched a career-high with four steals while also having only one turnover. Groves had the most rebounds in a game for a freshman since Jordan Tolbert had 13 in the 2011-12 season and the most since JT Toppin secured 18 last season against Arizona State. He had six offensive and 10 defensive rebounds to go along with scoring seven points and three assists in his first collegiate game. Petty, a freshman from Seattle, went for nine points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and only one turnover in his first game.
Tyeree Bryan added seven points and eight rebounds and Marial Akuentok went for seven points and seven rebounds from the starting lineup. The Red Raiders played the game without Toppin, LeJuan Watts, Luke Bamgboye and Josiah Moseley who were all out with lower body injuries.
Texas Tech took a 58-30 lead into halftime with Anderson already with career-highs with 25 points and eight assists while Horner had 10 points and Atwell was at nine with three 3-pointers. Anderson finished the half shooting 8-for-12 from the field, including going 3-for-5 on 3-pointers. He also had four assists and two steals going into the break. Tech was 12-for-23 on 3-pointers in the first half while Lindenwood was limited to just 2-for-11. Groves led Tech with five rebounds while Akuentok and Anderson had four each. The first half saw multiple runs by the Red Raiders, including an 11-1 run to take a 24-15 lead and then a 10-0 run to expand the lead to 47-26. Tech owned a 20-0 advantage on fast break points to take the 28-point halftime lead. Â
The Red Raiders return to action at 7 p.m. on Friday against Sam Houston at United Supermarkets Arena before traveling to play at No. 17 Illinois next Tuesday in Champaign, Illinois. Â
Follow the Red Raiders: Keep up with Texas Tech men's basketball news at TexasTech.com and at the team's social media on Instagram, X and Facebook.
