Texas Tech has a history of upsetting Kansas in Lubbock

Tonight, Texas Tech hosts the No. 1 team in college basketball, the Kansas Jayhawks. This is a matchup that has been dominated by Kansas in the past, which is to be expected given the pedigree of both programs.

Kansas leads the all-time series 29-4 including a current 11-game win streak over Texas Tech. However, history shows that Kansas has not always had an easy time coming out of Lubbock with a victory.

The first time Texas Tech knocked off the Jayhawks was in 1999. In only the third matchup between the two programs, the unranked Red Raiders defeated the No. 24 Jayhawks 90-84.

On that day, Texas Tech guard Rayford Young scored 41 points, the sixth-highest scoring game by any Red Raider at the time. In addition, freshman center Andy Ellis recorded his first career double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds in the second start of his career.

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The win was the first victory for Texas Tech over a ranked opponent since 1996.

While it would take six years for Tech to beat Kansas again, the Red Raiders next win in the series is possibly the greatest game in program history.

On Valentines’ Day 2005, Bob Knight’s Red Raiders knocked off No. 2 Kansas in double overtime. The victory was one of the most dramatic in Red Raider sports history.

With 3.6 seconds remaining in the second overtime, forward Darryl Dora hit a three point shot to give Texas Tech the 80-79 victory. The fans stormed the court in celebration of the program’s first win over a top-5 team in 20 years.

Two years later, another top-5 Kansas team would find trouble in Lubbock. And once again, it was Dora who led the charge.

With 19 points and 5 rebounds, Dora came off the bench to haunt Kansas once again. Dora hit three 3-pointers and Jay Jackson added 15 points as Texas Tech built a 61-49 lead. But Kansas went on a 13-1 run to tie the game at 62 with under two minutes to play.

However, Jackson hit a shot in the land and was fouled to give Texas Tech the lead for good as the Red Raiders pulled off the upset.

Perhaps the biggest upset in the series came in 2009 when Texas Tech defeated the No. 9 Jayhawks 84-69 in Lubbock. The blowout victory was shocking considering that Texas Tech came into the game with a 12-17 record and a 2-12 conference mark.

But senior guard Alan Voskuil scored a career-high 35 points including nine 3-pointers in his final home game as a Red Raider. As he ended the game with two deep threes to add an exclamation point to the win, the Red Raider crowd chanted his name.

In 2014, Kansas almost suffered another upset in Lubbock. The No. 8 Jayhawks needed a layup with just two seconds left to play from future No. 1 overall NBA draft pick Andrew Wiggins to escape with the win.

The play was a bit of a fluke with Wiggins being in the right place at the right time. Kansas center Joel Embiid had the ball in the lane but dribbled it off his foot. Unfortunately, the ball bounced right to Wiggins who hit the game winning shot

The 13-12 Red Raiders came within two seconds of beating the 20-6 Jayhawks despite the fact that the 2013-14 Texas Tech basketball team was atrocious and devoid of depth or talent in head coach Tubby Smith’s first year in Lubbock.

So while Kansas has dominated the series between these two teams, keep in mind that the Jayhawks have stubbed their toe a few times in Lubbock. This year’s team is as talented as any of the Texas Tech teams to knock off Kansas so do not be surprised if the Red Raiders are able to pull off another upset tonight.

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