Kansas Basketball: 3 takeaways from Jayhawks win over No. 14 Texas Tech

Kansas Basketball got a huge road victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Thursday night.

Over the past 3-4 seasons, Kansas Basketball and Texas Tech have remained among the top of the Big 12. Although the Jayhawks are no strangers, the emergence of the Texas Tech program has one of the most fascinating to watch. Chris Beard has taken a program with very little Big 12 success and turned them into a yearly threat to win the title.

The Jayhawks have been impressive early on, with their lone blemish coming in a 102-90 season opener against Gonzaga. Kansas got a big win over Kentucky and come in ranked at No. 5. For Texas Tech, they have won all six games against teams outside the top-200. In their lone test of the season, they lost to Houston in Fort Worth.

For Kansas, they were heading into the contest keeping a streak on the line. The 29-straight conference opener winning streak was at stake in Lubbock.

Ochai Agbaji would score the Jayhawks’ first points after missing three of their first four. Kansas had flaws in their defense against Gonzaga. That would show up early in the Tech game as they were aggressive near the rim and successful.

McClung had the hot hand early for Tech as his nine points through the first five minutes lead all scores. Agbaji would lead the Jayhawks early, leading with six points.

Garrett set up a fantastic high low pass for a McCormack dunk. It’s a play that both Baylor and Kansas runs. With Azubuike being on the dunking end last year, it was McCormack on the receiving end.

Kansas on some occasions throughout the season has tried the five-guard lineup. This unit consists of Garrett, Agbaji, Braun, Enaruna, and Grant-Foster. Although the lineup was not generating a lot of points, it limited the Raiders. After making three of their first seven, Tech finished the half by shooting 29 percent (9-28) from the field.

Nimani Burnett hit a big three-pointer before half cutting the Jayhawks lead from six to just three. Agbaji led the way for the Jayhawks at halftime with 12 points on 4-5 from the field.

Two early buckets from David McCormack would get the Jayhawks up eight. Even with stopping the Red Raiders, McClung could not be contained. He scored 19 of the Red Raiders’ first 34 points and tied the game three minutes into the second half.

It seemed as if Kansas just had limited offensive rhythm and the chemistry for the Jayhawks is not consistent enough. A Micah Peavy bucket would get the Red Raiders up to their biggest lead of the evening at seven with nine minutes to play at 46-39.

A quick response would give the Jayhawks the momentum. An Agbaji three-pointer and a few free throws would get the Jayhawks to a 7-0 run. KU would tie the game with seven minutes to go.

Throughout the entirety of the game, the team would trade blows and create offense through their own runs. Offensive fouls were at a premium during the back half of the game and were impacting Kansas’ ability to drive into the pain. A three-pointer from Terrance Shannon would put the Red Raiders up one with a three-pointer with under 30 seconds to play.

Bill Self would call a timeout with 14 seconds to play. Self is among the best inbound coaches coming out of a timeout and hoping to draw up another. Agbaji would cut under the basket and score an easy layup off the inbound to put the Jayhawks up one.

A last-second defensive stand holds strong as Kansas would survive a tough road test, 58-57. Agbaji would lead the way and be one of only two scorers in double figures. He finished with 23 points on 8-11 shooting from the field.