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Texas Tech uses strong second half to take out DePaul in Big 12/Big East Battle

After being up by only one point at the break, Texas Tech turned up the intensity in the second half to topple the Blue Demons Wednesday night in Lubbock.

ByMatthew Conner|
Dec 4, 2024; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders forward Darion Williams (5) drives to the basket against DePaul Blue Demons guard Layden Blocker (2) in the first half at United Supermarkets Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images
Dec 4, 2024; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders forward Darion Williams (5) drives to the basket against DePaul Blue Demons guard Layden Blocker (2) in the first half at United Supermarkets Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images | Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images

The Texas Tech basketball team secured a 76-62 victory over DePaul on Tuesday night thanks to a dominant second-half performance. After jumping out to early leads of 14-0 and 19-4, Tech allowed the Blue Demons back into the game to lead just 38-37 at the break.

Fortunately, the home team pulled away in the second half outscoring the visitors by 13 points. The win moved the Red Raiders to 8-1 on the season and gave the Big 12 its second win in the Big 12/Big East Battle.

Playing without leading scorer JT Toppin who was out with an injury and backup wing Devan Cambridge who is not currently with the program for personal reasons, Tech was missing two critical pieces of its rotation. Fortunately, two of the Red Raiders' best players picked up the slack.

Chance McMillan led the way with 22 points in 37 minutes of action. He also grabbed five rebounds and had no turnovers.

Meanwhile, despite battling foul trouble for most of the game, Darrion Williams poured in 20 points while grabbing six boards and handing out three assists. He did all of that despite playing only 27 minutes.

One huge difference in the second half was that the Red Raiders did a much better job of guarding the 3-point line. In the opening 20 minutes, DePaul used its wide-open offensive scheme to hit 9 of the 21 shots from beyond the arc that the Blue Demons hoisted.

However, after the intermission, DePaul was able to hit just 2 of 14 3-pointers. That included Jacob Meyer going 1-2 from deep and 1-4 overall in the second half after being 3-3 from 3-point range and 4-4 overall for 11 points in the first half to help keep his team in the game.

Another area where the Red Raiders were able to put distance between themselves and DePaul was at the free-throw line. For the game, Tech was 13-17 at the line while the Blue Demons were only 3-6.

It wasn't the most dominant effort by the Red Raiders but considering that Tech was playing without Toppin, the fact that this game went into the win column is a positive sign. Now, the Red Raiders turn their attention to Sunday's high-profile non-conference game against No. 22 Texas A&M in Fort Worth.

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