Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
12-4,2-1Big 12
Colorado
12-4,2-1Big 12
No. 14 Tech secures road win at Colorado
January 10, 2026 | Men's Basketball
BOULDER, Colorado – No. 14 Texas Tech took a 16-point lead into halftime and survived a second-half charge by Colorado for a 73-71 win on Saturday at the CU Events Center. The Red Raiders (12-4, 2-1 Big 12) escaped with the conference road win after leading by as many as 24 points in the second half and seeing a last-second 3-point attempt by the Buffaloes (12-4, 2-1 Big 12) rim out.
Donovan Atwell led Tech with 17 points after making five 3-pointers, including his fourth to stop a 9-0 run and his fifth to put the Red Raiders up 69-58. The Buffaloes would close to two points with a Sebastian Rancik 3-pointer with 42.3 seconds remaining and made two defensive stops to set up their chance to win it at the buzzer. JT Toppin recorded his fifth straight double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds while LeJuan Watts had his second of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds along with adding six assists. Christian Anderson added 15 points, three assists and three steals while Jaylen Petty had a career-high nine rebounds and scored eight points. Toppin, Watts, Atwell and Petty all finished the game with four fouls.
"You'd rather win and learn than lose and learn," Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. "That's what this team needs to do."
Texas Tech returns to Lubbock for a two-game homestand, starting against Utah at 8 p.m. on Wednesday before playing No. 9 BYU on Saturday, January 17 at United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders come into the homestand with an 8-0 home record.
The Red Raiders finished the game shooting 11-for-31 (35.5%) on 3-pointers with Atwell going 5-for-13 and Anderson and Petty making two each. The Buffaloes were only 6-for-21 (28.6%) on 3-pointers but fought their way back into it by shooting 19-of-22 at the free-throw line while Tech was only 4-of-10 at the line. The Red Raiders owned a 46-36 rebounding advantage, including grabbing 16 offensive rebounds to only seven by CU.
Toppin's double-double streak, which started with 19 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Duke, takes him to 10 this season and to 41 in his career while Watts recorded his second of the season and 12th of his career. Toppin had seven offensive rebounds in the game to match CU as a team while also adding four assists. Atwell now has five games this season with five or more 3-pointers and 19 in his career.
Texas Tech went into halftime leading 43-27 after trailing for the first 10 minutes of the game and taking its first lead at 19-18 with Anderson scoring a fastbreak layup before going to the locker room with the 16-point lead when Anderson came up with a steal and hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the half. Toppin had already recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds at the break while Atwell had 11 points with three 3-pointers and Anderson had 10 points, three assists and two steals. Watts had contributed five points, five rebounds and five assists for the Red Raiders who were shooting 8-for-17 (47.1%) on 3-pointers and owned a 22-17 rebounding advantage. Down 18-14, Watts drilled a 3-pointer to bring the Red Raiders to within one before Petty made a 3 to make it a 27-20 lead and 13-2 run. Atwell would drill his second and third 3-pointers of the half for a 40-24 lead before Anderson came up with a steal and fired off a last-second 3-pointer to end the half. Colorado, which led by as many as seven, went into the break shooting just 2-of-10 on 3-pointers and saw the Red Raiders with an 11-3 scoring advantage off turnovers. Tech had only two turnovers while CU had seven. Toppin went into halftime shooting 5-for-10 from the field and had five offensive rebounds while CU had only three offensive rebounds as a team through 20 minutes.
Texas Tech and Colorado will meet again on February 11 in Lubbock. The Red Raiders, who also beat the Buffaloes last season, cut into CU's all-time lead of 18-15 in the series that started in 1959. Â
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