Texas Tech Basketball: 3 takeaways from slim victory over Oklahoma
Texas Tech Basketball escaped on Tuesday night with a 69-67 victory over Oklahoma.
Texas Tech Basketball had one goal on Tuesday night, and that was to rebound from their disappointing 58-57 home loss to Kansas on December 17th. The Red Raiders showed that they were up for the task early against Oklahoma, as they handed the Sooners an early 10-4 deficit with 16:34 remaining in the opening half.
After Oklahoma managed to cut Texas Tech’s lead to 2 (12-10) with 13:08 to play, the Red Raiders proceeded to go on a 7-0 run and stretch their lead to nine. The Sooners clearly did not want the Red Raiders to put them in a double-digit bind, because they put together an 11-4 run that left them with just a 2-point deficit (23-21) with 6:44 to play in half #1.
However, after Texas Tech’s lead was trimmed to 1 (31-30) with 3:44 remaining (after Victor Iwuakor’s made free throw), the Red Raiders were able to lock in on the defensive end, and orchestrate a 9-0 run that helped them secure their first double-digit advantage of the half. Austin Reaves refused to let his squad go into the half down by 10, as he knocked down a jumper with under five seconds to play, to help the Sooners go into the break trailing by just eight.
The Red Raiders were able to enjoy an early 46-38 second-half lead for a little bit, before the Sooners began to put some major pressure on them, by causing the Red Raiders’ lead to shrink to 1 with 15:30 remaining in the final half. As the second half progressed, Texas Tech let Oklahoma know that they could cut into their lead all they wanted, but they would never inch ahead of the Red Raiders at any point.
Oklahoma found themselves within striking distance with under 45 seconds left, but the Sooners could not come away with the stop that they desperately needed, which allowed the Red Raiders to push their lead from 63-61 to 65-61 (thanks to a Mac McClung layup).
Still, the Sooners had a chance to force overtime after Victor Iwuakor intentionally missed a free throw with 2.8 seconds remaining in the game (and the Sooners were trailing 69-67), but Austin Reaves could not convert on an open putback opportunity, and Oklahoma fell to Texas Tech 69-67.
After losing their Big 12 opener in devastating fashion, Tuesday night’s victory was exactly what Texas Tech needed to get themselves back on the winning trail. While there is always room for improvement, I was thoroughly impressed with the way that the Red Raiders approached their match-up with Oklahoma, and in this article, I want to discuss my 3 main takeaways from the Red Raiders’ massive 69-67 road victory over Oklahoma.