Texas Tech took a big step in the right direction with a gritty come-from-behind road win at West Virginia on Saturday and takes aim at duplicating that with another matchup away from home when it visits Oklahoma State in Big 12 play at Stillwater, Okla., on Tuesday.
The Red Raiders climbed back from a 16-point first-half deficit to nab the victory against the Mountaineers and climb into a fourth-place tie in the Big 12 with BYU and Kansas, two teams that Texas Tech holds a tiebreaker against due to head-to-head victories.
A win in Stillwater would represent a major step toward Texas Tech (20-9, 9-7 Big 12) securing a first-day bye at the league tournament in Kansas City next week.
None of that seemed reachable when the Red Raiders tumbled into a 20-4 hole in the initial eight minutes at West Virginia. But Texas Tech’s shooting touch heated up after a 2-of-14 start, especially from 3-point territory as Texas Tech made six of its final 11 from deep to rally within 45-39 by halftime.
As key as the about-face on offense was, though, an uptick on defense was bigger. The Mountaineers scratched out only 25 points after halftime and shot 39.1 percent (9 of 23) overall and missed eight of nine treys.
“To start the game, we weren’t as engaged as we needed to be on a few things that we felt like were real foundations for the scouting report,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “The second half, I thought our defense really stepped up. … We made it difficult to get the ball inside and defended the 3-point line.”
Oklahoma State conjured up a similar rally at Texas on Saturday but faded late in an 81-65 loss.
The Cowboys (12-17, 4-12) fought back to even, 52-52, with 12:21 left in the game before the Longhorns reeled off a 14-0 run to charge to the double-digit win — which came after Oklahoma State’s last five games were settled by 10 points or fewer.
Rebounding was a major headache for the Cowboys vs. Texas: They lost the battle on the glass 39-28, but more damaging was the Longhorns’ 22-1 advantage on second-chance scoring.
“It can’t be 22-1 on the second-chance points, and because of how well they rebounded, they ended up with 17 more shots than us,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton said.
The Red Raiders routed the visiting Cowboys 90-73 on Jan. 9.
–Field Level Media