Texas Tech Athletics
20-6,11-4Big 12
TCU
15-11,8-7Big 12
No. 9 Tech falls in Fort Worth
February 18, 2025 | Men's Basketball
FORT WORTH – No. 9 Texas Tech fought back but couldn't close it out against TCU in a 69-66 loss on Tuesday at Schollmaier Arena.
The Red Raiders (20-6, 11-4 Big 12) fell to 6-2 on the road in conference play and saw the Horned Frogs (15-11, 8-7 Big 12) claim their fifth straight home win in the series. Tech trailed by eight at halftime but were up 59-54 on a Darrion Williams layup with seven minutes remaining before TCU regained the lead and staved off the comeback to split the regular-season series between the teams.
"I felt like our guys had the understanding of what it took to win this game but we ran out of gas and weren't able to finish it," Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. "We took the lead in the second half with about seven minutes to go and I felt like we put our stamp on what we wanted to do and how we were going to do it. But we just didn't have the grit that it takes to win on the road. I thought TCU got a lot of rebounds and 50-50 balls at the end of this one and that's how you lose on the road."
Williams, who surpassed the 1,000-point career milestone in the game, led Texas Tech with 21 points and added five assists. Chance McMillian added 19 points by going 5-for-7 on 3-pointers and JT Toppin recorded his fourth straight double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Elijah Hawkins led Tech with nine assists and three steals in a game where the Red Raiders had 19 assists on 26-for-53 shooting. The Red Raiders came into the game averaging 82.4 points per game this season and had a streak of six straight games with 10 or more 3-pointers going. The team finished 9-for-25 (36.0 percent) from beyond the arc and were also out-rebounded by a 37-29 margin in the loss.
Williams has now scored 20 or more points six times this season and seven in his career while Toppin has 11 double-doubles this season and 23 through 58 games in his career. McMillian matched a season-high with five 3-pointers for the third time this season and is now shooting 45.4 percent from beyond the arc to lead the conference. Williams has scored 1,007 points through 91 games in his career.Â
TCU finished the game shooting 24-for-58 (41.4 percent) from the field, 6-for-17 on 3-pointers and was 15-of-22 at the free-throw line. Tech went just 5-of-8 at the free-throw line and saw the Horned Frogs claim a 15-7 advantage on offensive rebounds. The Red Raiders committed 13 turnovers while TCU limited its to nine. The Horned Frogs scored 17 points off turnovers while the Red Raiders had nine.
Down 36-28 at halftime, a Williams floater cut the deficit to 41-36 before McMillian drilled a 3-pointer to make it a 42-39 game. Anderson hit another 3-pointer for the Red Raiders who were within 44-42 with 13 minutes remaining before Trazarian White made back-to-back 3-pointers to push TCU's lead back to 50-42 with 12 minutes to play. The Red Raiders continued fighting though, closing to 50-49 with McMillian hitting his fourth 3-pointer of the game. Williams, who made a layup to reach 1,000 points, tied the game on the next possession at 54-all with Tech's eight 3-pointer of the game and the Red Raiders took their first lead of the second half with Toppin making a free throw with 8:05 remaining. An 8-0 run grew with another basket to give him 19 points and push the lead to 57-54 with seven minutes to play. TCU was back on top at 66-63 after a pair of Noah Reynolds free throws as the game crept under three minutes. Neither team would score again until Reynolds hit a jumper with 11 seconds remaining for a 68-63 lead but a McMillian 3-pointer with 5.7 seconds brought it to 68-66. Reynolds stepped to the free-throw line with 4.3 seconds and made one of two to make the three-point separation with a last-second 3-point attempt from Toppin missing to end the game.
TCU took a 36-28 lead into halftime after limiting the Red Raiders to 4-for-13 on 3-pointers and owning an 18-13 rebounding advantage. Williams led Tech with 10 points and two steals in the first half while McMillian had eight points on 2-for-4 shooting from deep. Toppin went into the break with five points and four rebounds and Hawkins had three assists and two points. The Red Raiders opened the game on a 7-0 run with a steal and Hawkins layup to start the night followed by a McMillian floater and Williams 3-pointer. Tech was up 10-3 on McMillian's first 3 but saw the Horned Frogs fight back and take a 14-12 lead on a Posey dunk. Williams, who was 2-for-3 from 3-point range going into he break, hit his second to cut it to 19-17 before a 6-0 run made it 30-21. Toppin would score his first points on a hook shot in the lane to stop the run but TCU pushed it to 36-26 for its largest lead of the half with two minutes remaining. TCU went into halftime up eight after going 14-for-29 (48.3 percent) from the field, with three 3-pointers and going 5-of-6 at the free-throw line. Tech, which had eight assists through 20 minutes, was 11-for-25 from the field but just 2-of-4 at the line.
Texas Tech returns to Lubbock where a two-game home stand begins by hosting West Virginia at noon on Saturday at United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders are 13-2 on their home court with only three home games remaining this season. The Mountaineers (15-10, 6-8 Big 12) have lost two in a row going into a Wednesday night game against Cincinnati in Morgantown. Tech will have a quick turnaround by hosting No. 5 Houston (22-4, 14-1 Big 12) at 8 p.m. for an ESPN Big Monday matchup of top 10 teams.
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