Tuesday night, the Texas Tech basketball team completed a much-needed two-game sweep in the state of Utah. After blowing out the University of Utah Utes on Saturday evening, the Red Raiders came away with a 72-67 win at BYU in front of over 18,000 fans in Provo.
Elijah Hawkins led all scorers with 22 points thanks in large part to a career-high six 3-point buckets. However, when the game was on the line, a familiar hero emerged for the Red Raiders.
Each time Tech needed a huge bucket down the stretch, junior forward Darrion Williams came up with the answer. Scoring eight of his 18 points in the final seven minutes of the contest, the Red Raiders' second-leading scorer was clutch.
Tech now sits at 2-1 in Big 12 play with both of its conference wins coming on the road in the state of Utah. What's more, Tuesday's victory was a Quad-1 win given BYU's ranking as a top-50 team in the NCAA NET rankings.
It was a critical road win for the Red Raiders before they return home to face No. 3 Iowa State on Saturday afternoon. So let's take a look inside the box score for some rapid reactions.
Texas Tech benefits from BYU's struggles at the line
When the Cougars look at the box score of this game, the first thing that will stick out to them will be their awful free-throw shooting. As a team, they went just 12-21 (57.1%). In a game decided by just five points, that would prove to be what tipped the scales for the Red Raiders.
Tech wasn't great at the line going just 10-16 (62.5%). What's more, the game was not officiated evenly as the home team was called for only 13 fouls (several of which were intentional in the final minute of the game) while Tech was whistled for 19. Still, the Red Raiders made more of their opportunities at the line, and that proved to be massive in this game.
Texas Tech holds another dangerous guard in check
Saturday, the Red Raiders held Utah's leading scorer, Gabe Madsen, to just four points. Tuesday, they shut down BYU's leading scorer, Richie Saunders, limiting him to just six.
The junior from Riverton, Utah averages 13.5 points per game on the season. However, he struggled to find any offense against the Red Raiders as he was just 2-4 from the floor. Perhaps this is a sign that the Red Raider perimeter players are starting to figure out how to stop dynamic opposing guards after struggling in that regard earlier in the season.
Once again, the 3-point shot was a weapon for Texas Tech
Just as it was against Utah when Tech was 12-26 from 3-point range to hold an 18-point edge from behind the arc, the deep ball was again key for Grant McCasland's team against BYU. Tech didn't shoot lights out from deep, though, going just 10-28 (35.7%).
However, because Utah was held to just 5-23 (21.7%) from deep, the Red Raiders had a 15-point advantage on 3-pointers.
Some of that had to do with the fact that BYU was willing to give up some extra 3-point shots by playing a zone defense virtually all night. However, Tech was not necessarily baited into the trap of falling in love with the 3-ball as so many teams do against a zone.
In fact, when Tech made its run to take control of the game, it was Williams' inside game and the slashing abilities of guard Chance McMillian (who had 16 points) that made the difference. That's the sign of a mature and intelligent team.
Texas Tech wins again despite another quiet night from JT Toppin
The Red Raiders won this game despite getting only a combined five points from two of their starters, JT Toppin and Kerwin Walton. While it was no shock to see the ineffective Walton held without a point, to see Toppin struggle to the tune of five points on 2-7 shooting was rather surprising.
What's more, Toppin had no rebounds or blocked shots while playing just 18 minutes. But unlike in his quiet game against Utah on Saturday when he scored only 11 points in 14 minutes, it wasn't foul trouble that caused him to spend most of his night on the bench.
Rather, Toppin just seemed off right from the start of the game when he missed a couple of point-blank shots. Also, it looked as if BYU's shorter but bulkier interior players bothered the lanky Texas Tech star on both ends of the floor. Thus, Federiko Federiko got 24 minutes of action and though he scored only four points, he did grab seven rebounds and block a shot as he helped make up for Toppin's ineffective performance.