Texas Tech unable to stop 3-point barrage, falls to No. 3 Kansas

Texas Tech needed to play close to flawless Tuesday night.

Hosting No. 3 Kansas, their second straight nationally-ranked Big 12 Conference foe, the Red Raiders had to play fundamentally sound if they intended to win the game.

As it did in its first conference contest, Texas Tech played well in the first half — but only the first few minutes before the Jayhawks took control.

But, the Red Raiders learned they needed to play the full 40 minutes and did so — slicing a 10-point deficit with three minutes to play and set up a game-winning possession.

TTU's Pop Isaacs, who had been money from the three-point line all-night long, drove to the left side of the paint — drawing contact — before losing the ball and allowing Kansas' KJ Adams Jr. to record a breakaway dunk on the other end en route to a 75-72 win over the Red Raiders inside United Supermarkets Arena.

“There was some contact, there was no call, obviously,” said Isaacs, who finished with 18 points, when asked to describe the second-to-last offensive possession for the Red Raiders (10-4, 0-2). ”It was a physical game the whole time. So, I don’t really know what to say about it.

“Life’s not fair sometimes. So, you just gotta keep pushing.”

Obanor, who missed a three-pointer which would have sent the game into overtime, ended the night with a season-best 26 points to go with seven rebounds.

"There's a lot of mistakes that we made but the most important thing is that we fought, and we attacked,” said Texas Tech coach Mark Adams, who dropped two straight games for the first time heading up his alma mater. “We didn't give up. We had a lot of our guys be very resilient and believe in each other down the stretch.”

Adams finished with 14 points and was aided on offense by Dajuan Harris — who scored a career-high 18 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the three-point line for the reigning champion Jayhawks (13-1, 2-0). Jalen Wilson chipped in 16 points while Gradey Dick added 11 in the victory, which saw Kansas lead by double digits before the Red Raiders made a late charge.

Kevin McCullar Jr., a former TTU player who was making his return to Lubbock after transferring to play for the Jayhawks, recorded a dunk to extend Kansas' lead to 10 points with 6:56 to play in the contest. He also had another bucket to extend KU’s lead to 73-70 with 1:18 to play.

“It’s just another game, fans are gonna be fans,” McCullar said, when asked about the reception on his return to Lubbock. ”This is what we play the game for. I know millions of kids out there want to be in my position that I’m in right not. Life’s too short to let some boos and some yelling, stuff like that, get to me.”

Six minutes later, Obanor drained a fadeaway layup to close the deficit to one point (73-72) with less than a minute to play. The late-game dramatics followed.

Texas Tech notched a defensive stop, using a full timeout to draw up a play, but was unable to execute and come away with a basket with one of its top scorers handling the ball.

Instead, an aggressive drive to the paint led to Isaacs drawing contact from Bobby Pettiford, losing the basketball and McCullar coming up with the turnover before pushing the ball up the court to Adams for the emphatic close to the contest.

“I thought he was aggressive,” Kansas coach Bill Self said of McCullar, who finished with seven points and two rebounds. ”He didn’t make shots, but he made the biggest shot of the game. And he didn’t do a ton, but he got the biggest steal of the game.”

Obanor had a chance to send the game into overtime, but a contested 3-point shot missed the mark as the Red Raiders dropped their first home game since February 9, 2021. Texas Tech went 10-for-21 from the three-point line with Isaacs (4-for-9) and Obanor (4-for-8) leading the charge.

“I feel like I’m playing well, but I don’t really care about that though,” said Isaacs, who’s averaging double digits in his last three games and making four or more three-point shots in the same span. ”I mean, I want to win games at the end of the day, right? … Winning games is the only thing that really matters.

“Right now, we’re 0-2 in Big 12 play, so just gotta keep pushing and get a win versus Oklahoma on Saturday.”

What's next: Texas Tech is slated to host Oklahoma at 6 p.m. Saturday with the game set to be broadcast online on ESPN+. No 3. Kansas (13-1, 2-0) is scheduled to take on West Virginia at 5 p.m. Saturday in a road contest.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech men's basketball unable to stop 3-point barrage, falls to No. 3 Kansas