Texas Tech’s 29-game home winning streak was snapped on Tuesday night with a 75-72 loss to No.3 Kansas in Lubbock.
It was the first home loss for the Red Raiders since February 2021.
Texas Tech led for the first nine minutes of the game, but Kansas tied it with 11 minutes left in the first half and outscored the Red Raiders 23-16 to take a 43-36 lead into halftime.
The Jayhawks led by as many as 12 in the second half as they held off several small rallies by Texas Tech.
Trailing by 10 with 3:57 remaining, Texas Tech had time for one last 10-1 run that cut the lead to a single point. With 25 seconds left, Texas Tech had the ball with a chance to take the lead, but Kansas stole the ball from freshman guard Pop Isaacs, leading to a runaway dunk by KJ Adams on the other end.
Tech had one last shot to tie, but Kevin Obanor’s three-point attempt was off the mark.
WHAT TO KNOW
The Red Raiders trailed 67-57 with seven minutes left but got within 71-70 on Lamar Washington’s layup with 1:43 remaining. Texas Tech trailed 73-72 in the final minute when Isaacs’ turnover set up Adams’ slam.
Texas Tech outscored Kansas 12-5 in the final 3:53.
Kansas is now 13-1 on the season with a 2-0 record in the Big 12. Texas Tech’s second consecutive loss drops it to 10-4 overall and 0-2 to start conference play.
BY THE NUMBERS
Dajuan Harris Jr posted a career-high 18 points for Kansas to lead four Jayhawks who scored double figures. Jalen Wilson (16), Adams (14), and Gradey Dick (11) were the others.
Harris connected on all five of his three-point attempts, accounting for almost half of the Jayhawks’ total of 11 made three-pointers.
Obanor led all scorers with 26 points, and Isaacs had 18 for Texas Tech.
WHO SAID
Kansas head coach Bill Self was pleased with his team’s overall performance.
“We played well. Anytime you score 75 points on the road it’s a good thing, especially against a team that guards like Texas Tech,” he told reporters after the game.
Texas Tech sees positives to take with it as well.
“Just to see us, you know, stay resilient like that,” said Isaacs. “Get ourselves back into the game and just keep fighting for our fans, keep fighting for our coach. I think this game taught us a lot of things. It taught us you can’t just play 20 good minutes in basketball, you have to play 40.”
“The most positive things about tonight was we had a great crowd and the guys responded to the crowd. They also responded to Kansas and played well, particularly in the second half, and that’s something we can build on,” added head coach Mark Adams.
NEXT UP
Kansas travels to play West Virginia on Saturday while Texas Tech hosts Oklahoma.
