Texas Tech basketball: 3 reasons the Red Raiders beat Texas

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Feb 27, 2021; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders guard Terrence Shannon Jr. (1) goes to the basket against Texas Longhorns guard Matt Coleman III (2) in the second half at United Supermarkets Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

Tech dominated play in the lane

Speaking of the huge Texas size advantage, it sure didn’t seem to help the Longhorns much on Saturday. In fact, it was the Red Raiders who had the edge in just about every stat that had to do with the paint.

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For the game, Tech outscored UT 32-20 in the paint. That included a nice 10-point effort from Marcus Santos-Silva, who stayed out of foul trouble.

Meanwhile, Terrence Shannon Jr. had eight points in the paint, including a pair of thunderous dunks. In all, the sophomore had only one basket that didn’t come right at the rim as he was aggressive all afternoon with the basketball.

Additionally, Tech won the rebounding battle 36-31. That didn’t look to be in the cards early though as Texas stormed the glass to open the game. But in the second half, the Horns secured only 16 boards while Tech pulled down 22.

Leading the way for his team on the glass was Santos-Silva. After a slow start, he would finish the day with nine rebounds, all of which came after the break.

Tech’s rebounding edge had to be considered a surprising development. In Big 12 games, Texas leads the conference with a +4.5 rebounding margin while Tech is just 9th with a margin of -0.8 boards per game. But on Saturday, that stat went against the norm and it proved to be a huge reason why the Red Raiders were able to record a massive victory.

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