The Big 12 Conference continued action on Tuesday night, with five basketball games on the schedule, including Texas Tech and Cincinnati. The Bearcats were in desperate need of a win and trying to crawl back towards .500 in Big 12 play, while Texas Tech was feeling good, fresh off a big win over Arizona.
While things were looking good early for Cincinnati at home, the Red Raiders were able to take over this game and win a comfortable 81-71 game on the road, to improve to 14-4 overall and 5-2 in Big 12 play, while Cincinnati fell to 12-6 overall and 2-5 in the Big 12.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Texas Tech’s First Half Comeback
The Red Raiders trailed this game on the road early, down 14-7 at the under-12 minute timeout. But then, Texas Tech woke up and by the under-8 timeout had it down to a two-point game, before taking the lead on an Elijah Hawkins three-pointer with 6:30 to go in the first half. The Red Raiders would never trail after that. Tech got home from downtown, with Kevin Overton hitting back-to-back threes around the four minute mark which extended Tech’s lead as they approached halftime.
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Texas Tech led by as many as seven towards halftime, before a Jizzle James three-pointer cut it to four heading to the locker room. But the Red Raiders would come out of halftime where they left off and never look back, despite a couple of brief moments where it looked like Cincinnati might try to make a run. But that big run the Bearcats needed never came to fruition, as Tech went on to win 81-71.
Three-Point Differential
Texas Tech was “bombs away” most of the night, firing up 31 three-point attempts on Tuesday night at Cincinnati, connecting on 12, good for 39% from downtown. Tech basically hit its season average, which was 38.9% coming into the game.
Meantime, Cincinnati was only able to hit 3-14 three-pointers.
Interestingly, coming into the game, Cincinnati had attempted more three-pointers this season (406) than Texas Tech (401). But all season, Tech has been one of the best from three-point range, while Cincinnati is in the bottom three in the league from deep.
That was on full display on Tuesday night, especially towards the end of the first half when Texas Tech got hot, which carried them into the halftime lead on the road.
JT Toppin Keeps Growing
Toppin had another 20-point night, his second-straight game with at least 20 points, the first time he’s done that since early in the season against mediocre competition.
And when Tech needed him down the stretch, he was there, and reliable.
He finished 9-15 from the field, 1-2 from three-point range, with 20 points and seven rebounds.
The New Mexico transfer is in the Top 5 in the Big 12 in scoring, and if he’s just starting to get comfortable, he’s going to be one of the most dangerous players in the Big 12 Conference the rest of the season. Watch out.
