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Texas Tech basketball: Turning points in Red Raiders upset of No. 1 Cardinals

By Matthew Conner

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 10: Chris Clarke #44 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts after a basket during the first half of their game against the Louisville Cardinals at Madison Square Garden on December 10, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 10: Chris Clarke #44 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts after a basket during the first half of their game against the Louisville Cardinals at Madison Square Garden on December 10, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /
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Kyler Edwards #0 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders drives past Ryan McMahon #30 of the Louisville Cardinals  (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
Kyler Edwards #0 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders drives past Ryan McMahon #30 of the Louisville Cardinals  (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /

A 7-0 first-half run kept the Red Raiders from falling into a large hole again

The Red Raiders fell into double-digit first-half holes against both Iowa and Creighton in the Las Vegas Invitational.  Given that this team is not an offensive juggernaut, especially without leading scorer Jahmi’us Ramsey, that’s a recipe for disaster.

But in the early moments of Tuesday’s game, Beard saw his team on the verge of another significant deficit before the game’s second media timeout.  After Tech took a 5-4 lead on a Chris Clarke layup, the Cardinals rattled off 8-straight points to go up 12-5.

It was at that moment when the game could have gotten away from the Red Raiders.  The sense of “here we go again” could have set in with this young roster which knew it didn’t have Ramsey to help battle back and T.J. Shannon on the bench with two early fouls.

But in a great sign for the night and the rest of the season, the Red Raiders turned up the defensive effort and got the game even with a 7-0 run of their own.  That’s where the Red Raider role players stepped up.

Kevin McCullar started the run with a nice layup off an assist from T.J. Holyfield, who had kept the possession alive with an offensive rebound.  McCullar then blocked a shot leading to a Kyler Edwards jumper in transition to cut the deficit to 12-9.

After Nwora missed a 3, Edwards drained a shot from behind the arc and in the span of less than a minute, Tech had tied the game.  It was key for Edwards to take the offensive lead for a stretch the way he hasn’t been able to for most of this year while McCullar continued to flash the defensive acumen that has been evident from the true freshman all season.

Teams that are significant underdogs to the No. 1 team in the nation almost never pull off upsets by completing huge comebacks.  Rather, once the favored team is able to establish a significant lead, the game often is over before the underdogs have a chance to put any excitement into the game.  But this quick 7-0 burst cauterized some early wounds and served notice to the Cardinals that they were in for a fight; one that it quickly became apparent they had no stomach for.

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