No. 8 Texas Tech makes history at home with win over No. 2 WVU
LUBBOCK, Texas — Freshman Zhaire Smith cradled the inbounds pass as the final eighttenths of a second ticked off the clock and the frenzied Texas Tech fans rushed the court.
The Red Raiders will savor this moment, even if the roughand-tumble Big 12 is just getting started.
Keenan Evans scored 20 points, Brandone Francis had a career-high 17 and No. 8 Texas Tech won the first-ever Top 10 matchup on its home court, beating second-ranked West Virginia 72-71 on Saturday.
The Mountaineers (15-2, 4-1 Big 12) couldn’t hold an 11-point lead in the final 13 minutes and had their nation-leading 15-game winning streak stopped.
They were the last team in the Big 12 with a perfect league record. Now Texas Tech (15-2, 4-1) is part of a four-way tie atop arguably the nation’s toughest conference — with 13 league games to go.
“I’ve got a great friend who this week told me, ‘Prince today, frog tomorrow,’” Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. “And for some reason, in the heat of the game — you might think about what I wonder in these moments — I kept on thinking about that.
“I know we’re going to be a frog again at some point. It’s the Big 12. But I want to be a prince one more day.”
Texas Tech’s Niem Stevenson (10) shoots the ball around West Virginia’s Jevon Carter during the second half of Saturday’s game.
Jevon Carter scored 28 points — one off his career high — for West Virginia, which was denied its first 5-0 start in its sixth season in the Big 12. Esa Ahmad added 18 in his season debut following an NCAA academic suspension.
Sagaba Konate had a gamehigh 11 rebounds, but one of his misses on an ill-advised long jumper signified West Virginia’s game for coach Bob Huggins.
“We just had guys that were really out of character,” Huggins said. “We got our center shooting whatever that was, a 3-point shot from the top of the Brad Tollefson / AP
key. We just did a lot of things out of character from what we normally do.”
Evans hit a lean-in jumper to give the Red Raiders a fourpoint lead in the final minute. Carter made a 3 for the final margin with less than a second to go, and the Mountaineers couldn’t foul Smith before the buzzer sounded, prompting a wild celebration.
“It was amazing,” Francis said. “It feels good to play in that kind of atmosphere out there. Thanks for having our back throughout the entire game. It was great you had our back.”
It was the first time Texas Tech won a Top 10 matchup. Two of the three in school history were this week, starting with a 75-65 loss to No. 9 Oklahoma on Tuesday.
Georgia: The Bulldogs’ two straight losses have put them behind in the SEC race and in their hopes to show they deserve a spot in the NCAA tournament. They were hurt by the lack of scoring balance, especially on the front line.