Well, the No. 16 Texas Tech Red Raiders now have three losses on the season after the TTU men’s basketball team lost in Dallas on Saturday against the No. 17 Arkansas Razorbacks. In the “Revocruit Rematch” in the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas Tech looked strong early on, but simply could not hold on in the second half.
Texas Tech was able to build a solid 49-43 lead in the first half thanks to impressively consistent and accurate shooting from all over the court. The Red Raiders were hitting on 53.3 percent of their three point attempts and managed to make 57.1 percent of all of their shots.
That’s solid! That’s good! That’s how you’re going to be able to go out and beat a top 25 team in a neutral site matchup.
What’s not solid and not good and clearly not going to help you go out and beat a top 25 team in a neutral site matchup is if you completely collapse in the second half and get outscored 50-37 down the stretch. Because, yeah, that’s what happened.
No. 16 Texas Tech falls short as the Red Raiders drop their matchup in Dallas against the No. 17 Arkansas Razorbacks
Texas Tech made just 31.3 percent of its three point attempts in the second half and was held to 44.1 percent shooting overall. Combine that with Arkansas getting 16 trips to the free throw line and then the Razorbacks making 51.5 percent of their shots in the second half and yeah, that’s a problem!
That definitely explains how the Red Raiders lost 93-86 in this game.
JT Toppin had a really impressive outing as he led all scorers with 30 points (on 14 of 22 shooting) and Christian Anderson wasn’t too far behind with 26 points of his own and then 11 assists. But outside of Toppin and Anderson, the Red Raiders weren’t able to get much else on offense.
They were the only Texas Tech players in double digits scoring against Arkansas.
Meanwhile, the Razorbacks had Trevon Brazile with 24 points and then Karter Knox and Darius Acuff Jr. each with 20 points.
Texas Tech is now 7-3 on the season. Each of the Red Raiders’ losses have come against teams that have been ranked in the top 25 this season.