Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders overwhelm LIU in second half

The Texas Tech basketball used a dominant second half to down Long Island University 96-66 Sunday afternoon in Lubbock.

For the first time this year, the Texas Tech basketball team trailed at the halftime Sunday. But after facing a 42-41 deficit to Long Island University, Chris Beard saw his team turn in its best 20 minutes of basketball of the season to storm past the Sharks 96-66.

"“What we are lacking is consistency,” Beard said. “I think today we showed some consistency in the second half. It was nice to see.”"

Jahmi’us Ramsey continued the fantastic start to his career with a team-high 27 points to go along with six rebounds, a steal, and a thunderous block that came as part of a key second-half run when the Red Raiders finally put some space between themselves and their underdog opponent.

Along with fellow true freshman Terrence Shannon Jr., Ramsey took over in the middle of the second half during a 10-4 run that saw the home team extend a two-point lead to 57-48 with 14:44 to play. After Shannon got the run started with a rim-rattling dunk, Ramsey drilled a 3-pointer and a jumper from just inside the 3-point line. After a Chris Clarke layup, Shannon punctuated the run with a 3-ball of his own to give the No. 12 Red Raiders some breathing room.

The 3-point shot was a huge factor in this game for both teams. The Sharks and Red Raiders combined to hoist 43 shots from behind the arc. Tech finished the day an excellent 11-19 (57.9%) while LIU went 10-24 (41.7%).

But in the first half, it looked like the visitors might have a historic day from deep. In the first 20 minutes, the Sharks nailed 7-12 from deep helping them to take a lead into the break as Jashaun Agosto drilled a jumper from outside to beat the first-half buzzer.

However, that hot shooting did not carry over to the second half, due in large part to a noticeable increase in Texas Tech’s defensive intensity. Opening the second half with four-straight stops, including two charges drawn, the Red Raiders set an early tone out of the locker room.

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After shooting 50% from the floor and committing just five turnovers, prior to the intermission LIU shot a mere 8-24 while giving the ball away 15 times after the break. And as the defensive intensity picked up, so too did the offensive tempo as Tech rattled off 54 points in the second half.

Shannon (13 points) and Kevin McCullar Jr. (10) joined Ramsey to give the Red Raiders three freshmen in double figures. What’s more, junior Davide Moretti had 12 points and sophomore Kyler Edwards added 10 as four of the five Red Raider starters got to double-figures.

But the story was Ramsey. On fire all afternoon, the Duncanville, Texas native hit 10-16 shots including 5-6 from 3-point range. It came just one game after he had his worst shooting effort thus far as a collegiate when he went 4-13 from the field on Thursday night against Tennessee State.

"“It is team basketball. Ramsey gets it,” Beard said. “He was taking the plays that were there. Certainly Ramsey he a scorer and we look to give him the best opportunities possible. He is one of our best offensive players. He said it best he always defects the credit to his teammates. There are guys passing to him, screening for him, guys spacing. It’s a team game and I think Ramsey understands that as well as any young player I’ve coached.”"

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Averaging 17.5 points per game through his first five outings as a Red Raider, the former 5-star recruit and highest-ranked player to ever play for Texas Tech has lived up to the hype. But if he shoots the ball as well from outside as he did on Sunday afternoon, we might find that there wasn’t enough buzz about him when he signed with Tech because he might just be the best player in the Big 12, if not the entire country.

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