Marcus Carr scored 20 points and Sir’Jabari Rice added 18 — including five free throws in the final 21 seconds — as No. 10 Texas rallied for a 72-70 home win over Texas Tech on Saturday in Austin, Texas.
Texas Tech was up by as many as 12 points in the first half and by nine at halftime before the Longhorns rallied and took a six-point lead with 10:31 to play.
Pop Isaacs poured in a 30-foot 3-pointer with 31.2 seconds remaining to snap a stretch of more than four minutes without a field goal by the Red Raiders, drawing them to within 66-63.
Rice converted a pair of free throws with 20.6 seconds left before Tech answered with a 3-pointer by De’Vion Harmon. Rice canned two more foul shots with 14 seconds left and the Red Raiders responded with a layup by Harmon to stay within two.
Rice was fouled again with 5 seconds remaining and went 1 of 2, keeping the margin at three points. Texas immediately fouled to eliminate the chance for a game-tying 3-pointer and was able to hold on.
Timmy Allen added 17 points for the Longhorns (15-2, 4-1 Big 12), who have won three straight games and are 8-1 under interim coach Rodney Terry.
Isaacs led all scorers with 23 points while Harmon had 13, and Jaylon Tyson and Fardaws Aimaq had 12 points each. Tyson added a career-high 14 rebounds for Texas Tech (10-7, 0-5), which has dropped five straight games.
The Red Raiders led from the early moments of the game, and a 3-pointer by Isaacs at the 1:12 mark stretched their lead to 12 points. But the Longhorns got a high-flying putback dunk from Dillon Mitchell to pull within 34-25 at the break.
Isaacs’ 11 points led all scorers before halftime while Allen paced the Longhorns’ sputtering attack with 7 points. It was the third game in the past four that the Longhorns have trailed by at least nine points at halftime.
Texas clawed back to even at 44-44 by making seven of its first 10 shots of the second half punctuated by Rice’s 3-pointer with 12:37 to play. The Longhorns took the lead on two free throws by Rice on their ensuing possession.
–Field Level Media