Davion Warren scored a season-high 23 points and Bryson Williams added 19 to help lead No. 12 Texas Tech to a 73-68 win over Kansas State on Monday as the Red Raiders completed a perfect 18-0 home record at the United Supermarkets Arena.
The Red Raiders (23-7, 12-5 Big 12) went undefeated at home for the first time ever at the USA and for the first time in a season since going 13-0 during the 1995-96 season. TTU finished the first half on a 12-0 run and the second half on a 6-0 run in the five-point win that extended an overall 21-game winning. Tech is currently the only team in the nation with an 18-0 home record and will carry a 21-game home winning streak into next season which is the second longest active streak in the nation behind only No. 1 Gonzaga which has won 67 in a row.
The game was the final at home for Warren, Williams, Kevin Obanor, Adonis Arms and Marcus Santos-Silva who were each honored before the game and applauded after for their roles in being the first team in program history to run off 18 home wins in a season. The group has still not lost back-to-back games this season and split with Kansas State after responding from a 62-51 loss on January 15 in Manhattan, Kansas.
"First of all, it was just an emotional night for me," Texas Tech coach Mark Adams said. "The opportunity to coach these seniors, these five guys has been incredible. God has blessed me to coach not only good basketball players, but good men. Men who want to be coached and put the team first and who just set a great example for this culture. I first just want to say how lucky I am and how we are as a Red Raider nation, to have players like that in uniform that represent us every game. I wish we could play the rest of the games right here, but I don't know if I can talk the NCAA into doing that. What an unbelievable arena and what a great atmosphere this is."
Warren finished the game shooting 9-for-11 and scored six of the final eight points in the game for the Red Raiders. He gave Tech a 67-65 lead with a basket with two minutes remaining, a 69-68 lead with another jumper with 1:05 on the clock and then hit two free throws with 13 seconds remaining to make it a five-point final margin.
"We knew it was going to be a tough one," Warren who added four steals and rebounds to his 23-point performance. "Nobody has beat us at home and we knew Kansas State wanted to do that tonight. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. So just stay on course, stay level-headed throughout the whole game and we got the job done."
Williams scored in double figures for the 16th of 17 conference games by going for 19 points. He was 7-for-12 from the field and also added four rebounds. Adonis Arms led Tech with six assists and scored 10 points, while KJ Allen recorded season-highs with eight rebounds and six points in the game. Mylik Wilson had three blocks and two assists, Terrence Shannon, Jr. and Clarence Nadolny added five points each, while Kevin Obanor had four rebounds and three points. Warren, who averaged 21.2 points per game last season at Hampton, passed his previous season-high of 19 against Grambling and has now in scoring in four games this season.
Tech finished the game shooting 49.1 percent from the field despite going just 4-for-16 on 3-pointers. The team committed only 12 turnovers and were 17 of 21 from the free-throw line to overcome Kansas State hitting 10 3-pointers. Tech finished with a 36-10 scoring advantage in the paint to continue the streak of outscoring every opponent in the paint this season.
Mike McGuirl led K-State with 18 points by hitting three 3-pointers, while Selton Miguel scored 14 points and Nijel Pack added 13. The Wildcats were 21-for-50 from the field and 16 of 20 in the upset attempt.
"We backed off some of these guys because one of the ways you hit threes is by driving to the basket and kicking out," Adams said. "We didn't want to get beat on penetration. In the second half we kind of just started pressing the ball more and I think that helped. Just kind of got back to how we normally play. We hang our hat on defense. If we play hard and play good defense, we'll win every game."
Tech took a 39-31 lead into halftime by going on a 12-0 run to end the half, capped by a Warren 3-pointer with two seconds left in the half. The Red Raiders had trailed by as many as nine points midway through the half before making a comeback. Williams led Tech with 11 points and Warren had 10 at the break, while Shannon had five to lead the bench. TTU started the game shooting 14-for-28 (50 percent) from the field, while KSU was 12-for-26 (46.2 percent). Warren was 2-for-3 on 3-pointers to lead Tech which was 4-for-9 from beyond the arc to begin the game. It was the 22nd time Tech led at halftime this season.
No. 7 Kentucky is currently 17-0 at home going into its home finale against Ole Miss on Tuesday in Lexington. UK is the only team that can match Tech's 18-0 home record this season with No. 1 Gonzaga going 16-0.
