Kevin McCullar had 19 points and six rebounds to help lead No. 14 Texas Tech to a 77-64 win over No. 23 Texas on Tuesday in front of a record-setting 15,300 fans at the United Supermarkets Arena.
The Red Raiders (17-5, 6-3 Big 12) improved to 14-0 at home with the win and snapped a three-game winning streak by the Longhorns (16-6, 5-4 Big 12) who were limited to 40.0 percent shooting with just six 3-pointers. Tech, which led 43-29 at halftime and is now 5-3 against ranked opponents this season, had four players score in double figures with Kevin Obanor going for 17 points with five 3-pointers, while Bryson Williams had 16 points and Davion Warren added 10.
"I'm relieved, I'm tired but also so proud and appreciative of the way our players played they showed a lot of heart," Texas Tech coach Mark Adams said. "Our fans were maybe better than our players were, they were outstanding. They behaved themselves and were cheering us on and showed why we have the best fans in the country. Couldn't say enough about them it was just an awesome environment. I don't think I've ever experienced anything like that before."
The win came on a night where former Tech coach Chris Beard made his return as the Longhorns head coach for the first time. Beard had coached the Red Raiders for five seasons before taking over the UT program on April 1, 2021. A week later, Adams was named head coach and has since kept the Red Raiders in national prominence with unmatched program support. McCullar, who played two seasons for Beard, led Tech with his 19 points after going 12-for-15 at the free-throw.
"It was electric in there," McCullar said. "There's nothing like the fans here in Lubbock, in west Texas. It was electric building up to the game and to all the people camping out I just want to say thank you for coming out and supporting us. We love our students here and the regular fan base, we appreciate it, it helped us."
Obanor finished the game with a season-high five 3-pointers by going 5-for-7 from beyond the arc, while Williams was 2-for-2 on 3-pointers for his 16 points. Adonis Arms led Tech with nine rebounds and four assists in a game where he scored one point after a season-high 16 against Mississippi State last Saturday. Marcus Santos-Silva also played a well-rounded game, finishing with seven points, six rebounds, two blocks and two assists. Williams has now scored in double figures in all nine Big 12 games and is leading the team with 13.6 points per game.
"On any given night we have guys that can score the ball," McCullar said. "We have guys that can go out there and score 20 on any given night on our team. We just know it's the little things that's going to help us win, and it's not about if the basketball is going in or not. We know that we've got to find different ways to win the basketball game when the ball is not going in. So I just credit our teammates and its easy when you got guys like KO shooting five of seven from three. Adonis Arms with nine rebounds is big and it's the little things that's going win us these games.
The Red Raiders finished the game 8-for-19 on 3-pointers and were 24-for-51 from the field (47.1 percent). Tech was 21-for-30 from the free-throw line while Texas went 14-for-19 with all of its attempts coming in the second half.
"We knew we wanted to be very aggressive and try and push the ball as much as we could," Adams said. "We were able to do that in the first half but had a little more difficulty in the second. Our emphasize was just attack, stay after them and be aggressive on both ends of the floor. I thought we were really good the first half but give Texas credit, they're a tough team and teams that don't like losing, they do that."
Marcus Carr led the Longhorns with 18 points and six rebounds, while Courtney Ramey had 12 points. Christian Bishop finished with 11 points and eight rebounds for the Longhorns who were outrebounded by a 37-28 margin in the game.
Tech took a 43-29 lead into halftime with Obanor leading the team with 11 points while McCullar made a layup with 13 seconds until the break to take him to 10 points and push the lead to 14. The Red Raiders led by as many as 15 in the first half after shooting 15-for-27 (55.6 percent) from the field with five 3-pointers. The Longhorns were 12-for-28 (42.9 percent) and also had five 3-pointers. TTU was 8-for-13 from the free-throw line while UT had not taken a single free throw after 20 minutes of play. Obanor was 3-for-3 on 3-pointers and 2-for-2 at the line for his 11 points, while Williams had nine points by going 4-for-7 from the field and 1 of 1 on 3-pointers. Ramey was leading UT with 12 points at the break.
UP NEXT: The Red Raiders return to action this weekend against West Virginia at 1 p.m. (CST) at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, West Virginia. Tech earned a 78-65 win over the Mountaineers on Jan. 22 in the first matchup in Lubbock.
