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Texas Tech basketball: Most highly-anticipated non-con games in U.S.A. history

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - JANUARY 01: Head Coach Bobby Knight of Texas Tech recieves a trophy from Big 12 associate commissioner John Underwood during ceremony after his team's win over New Mexico at United Spirit Arena January 1, 2007 in Lubbock, Texas. With the win Knight surpassed Dean Smith to become the all-time winniest college basketball with 880 victories. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - JANUARY 01: Head Coach Bobby Knight of Texas Tech recieves a trophy from Big 12 associate commissioner John Underwood during ceremony after his team's win over New Mexico at United Spirit Arena January 1, 2007 in Lubbock, Texas. With the win Knight surpassed Dean Smith to become the all-time winniest college basketball with 880 victories. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /
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12-5-17: Tech rallies past No. 22 Nevada in OT

The final game we will look back upon makes this list not as much because of the hype that surrounded it when it occurred but because of how time has reshaped the way we view it.  On December 5th, 2017, the Red Raiders beat No. 22 Nevada 82-76 in overtime in Lubbock in what would eventually prove to be a very solid win.

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Most of us didn’t fully appreciate how good that Wolf Pack team was.  Featuring twin brothers Caleb and Cody Martin, Nevada would eventually reach the Sweet 16.  The next year, with most of the same players back, Nevada spent the majority of the season in the top-10 of the polls.

In Lubbock, it looked for quite a while as if the defending Mountain West champions were going to score a huge win for their program.  In fact, Tech trailed for over 36 minutes of the game and was down by 10 points with 11 minutes to play.

But by finishing regulation with a 5-0 run, Tech was able to get the score tied.  That was thanks to two free throws from Justin Gray with 28 seconds to play and a blocked shot by Zach Smith at the buzzer.

In OT, Keenan Evans took over, as he was known to do.  He had eight of his career-high 32 points in the extra five minutes as Tech never trailed in OT.

That night, the senior made only 9-20 shots from the floor but was 13-19 at the line as he repeatedly drove to the rim and drew contact.  Meanwhile, Niem Stevenson (11 points) and Zach Smith (10 points) were the only other Red Raiders in double-digits.

Meanwhile, each of the Martin twins went for over 20 points.  Caleb led his team with 28 points while Cody put up 22.

Next. Scouting Kentucky. dark

This was the last ranked non-conference team to come to the U.S.A. and though no one was camping out for this game, it did prove to be one of the better non-conference games we’ve seen in Lubbock.  But it will pale in comparison to what is in store Saturday when Big Blue comes to town.

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