Darrion Williams made all 12 of his shots and scored a career-high 30 points to lead Texas Tech to a 79-50 win over No. 6 Kansas on Monday at United Supermarkets Arena.
"The love and fight that our guys have for each other was on display," Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. "In a game where we knew they are shorthanded, we felt like protecting the paint would be a big deal. Not letting them get anything close to the rim. They only got four offensive rebounds. That tells me our team continues to improve. What a remarkable night to be a part a great team and great win and great university."
Williams also recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 11 rebounds in a game where he set the school's shooting percentage record by going 12-for-12 from the field and the Red Raiders secured a Top-10 win for the 10th straight season. The 29-point win over the Jayhawks was also the program's 31st win and largest margin of victory over a Top-10 team. Tech finished the night with a 42-26 rebounding advantage, outscored KU by a 28-20 margin in the paint, and had a 12-4 scoring advantage off turnovers.
The Red Raiders (18-6, 7-4 Big 12) improved to 13-1 on their home court on the same day they were bumped from the national rankings, while the Jayhawks (19-6, 7-5 Big 12) fell to 1-4 on the road in Big 12 games after being limited to 3-for-16 shooting on 3-pointers and 32.7 percent shooting overall. Tech never trailed and took a 37-28 lead into halftime in a game where it went 10-for-26 on 3-pointers, shot 49.1 percent from the field, and was 15-for-22 at the free-throw line.
Warren Washington was the only other Texas Tech player in double figures, going for 11 points and also adding six rebounds and two assists. Robert Jennings and Kerwin Walton finished with eight points each, while Pop Isaacs and Chance McMillian finished with seven. Isaacs led the Red Raiders with five assists and had only one turnover in a game where the Red Raiders had only eight turnovers as a team to snap a four-game losing streak against the Jayhawks.
Williams was the story for the Red Raiders in the win, going 4-for-4 on 3-pointers to go along with adding three assists and two steals. His 12-for-12 shooting performance was the first 30-plus point performance on perfect shooting in the Big 12 since 2010, per CBS Sports. ESPN Stats and Info posted that he was the first player in the last 25 years with 30 points, 10 rebounds and a 100% shooting percentage against a ranked opponent. According to ESPN, Williams' 12 field goals without a miss were the most against a ranked opponent in AP Poll history.
"It feels good," Williams said. "I mean, I couldn't have done it without my teammates setting me up for a lot of those shots. So, without them it wouldn't have happened. It was a good team win. It's all the work I put in. I'm in the gym all the time. Everybody on the team is in the gym all the time and we all just trust our work and it works. I made a lot of mistakes on defense that I'm sure Coach will yell at me tomorrow about, but I mean overall we won the game, but this isn't our goal to beat Kansas. We're trying to win the league."
A sophomore from Sacramento, California who was the first to sign with McCasland, Williams was coming off a week where he had a previous career-best 17 points at Baylor last Tuesday before leading Tech with team-highs of 13 points and 13 rebounds last Saturday against UCF. His 12-for-12 shooting performance surpassed Andre Emmett who was 11-for-12 (91.7%) against Iowa State in 2003 and Tony Battie who was 13-for-16 against Kansas in 1997 for the top Big 12 shooting games. There have been three other perfect games with 10-plus attempts with Greg Lowery going 11-for-11 against Rice in 1970, Steve Miles shooting 10-for-10 against UTRGV in 1990, and Will Flemons finishing at 10-for-10 against Midwestern State in 1992.
Williams joins Isaacs as the only Tech players to score over 30 this season with Isaacs having a career-high 32 points against BYU. Williams, who transferred to Tech this season from Nevada, is now averaging 10.3 points per game this season and is at 499 points through 57 career games. He has now scored in double figures in a season-best three straight games and 11 overall. Before the streak, he had been in single digits in the past five games
In his press conference, McCasland said, "Darrion wasn't trying to be perfect. He was trying to win. When you play that way, you get rewarded.""
Texas Tech took a 37-28 lead into halftime after making eight 3-pointers and holding Kansas to only 34.6 percent from the field and 2-for-7 on 3-pointers. Williams led Tech with 12 points and five rebounds at the break after going 2-for-2 on 3-pointers, while Toussaint and Walton had six points with two 3-pointers each. Washington and McMillian had five points each and Isaacs was leading the team with three assists to go along with three points. Tech opened scoring with a Williams 3-pointer and led 12-4 after McMillian and Toussaint hit their first 3s of the game. KU would go on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 12-12 before Walton and Isaacs hit 3-pointers to push the lead to 18-12. Williams drilled his second 3-pointer for a 21-14 lead and Tech was on a 9-0 run when McMillian came up with a steal and assisted Walton on another 3-pointer for a 27-14 lead. A Washington layup gave Tech its largest lead at 31-16 with five minutes to play in the half.
Tech improved to 14-1 when leading at halftime by coming out quick with Washington throwing down a dunk and another Williams 3-pointer pushing the lead to 46-32. He had 15 points at that point, while the Red Raiders went up 51-33 on his next 3-pointer that gave him 18 points and a new career-high. Tech took its first 20-point lead with a Jennings dunk with nine minutes to play before a Williams rebound and pass to Washington for another dunk made it 59-41.
Kansas was playing without former Red Raider Kevin McCullar who was out with an injury. Johnny Furphy and Nicolas Timberlake led KU with 13 points each, while Hunter Dickinson was limited to only five points and seven rebounds. Dajuan Harris finished with three assists and seven points.
The 29-point win matched the biggest margin against a Kansas team for the Red Raiders in program history after they had a 91-62 win back on February 3, 2019. The Red Raiders now have seven wins over Top-10 ranked Kansas teams. The Red Raiders are now 8-43 all-time against the Jayhawks and will not play them again in the regular-season under the new Big 12 scheduling matrix.
"When you get the opportunity to play somebody, you better be ready to go," McCasland said. "This one, I felt like we were ready to go and what a beautiful night to do it in this arena and a white out and then all the atmosphere and great people in the building that we all love. It's always fun to do it together and that's the way it felt tonight."
Texas Tech returns to action this weekend against No. 10 Iowa State at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. The Red Raiders go into their second straight Top-10 matchup on a two-game winning streak after also earning a wire-to-wire win over UCF last Saturday at home to snap a three-game losing streak. The Cyclones (18-5, 7-3 Big 12) plays at Cincinnati on Tuesday night.
