Red Raider Recap: Tech 75, TCU 69

Wednesday, January 18

United Supermarkets Arena

6:30 PM

Texas Tech Athletics

14-4 (3-3B12)

TCU

14-4 (3-3B12)

TCU

Texas Tech

January 19, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Game18TCUTexasTechStats Game18TCUQuotes

The Red Raiders have won three of their last four meetings over TCU.

LUBBOCK, Texas – The trio of Keenan Evans, Justin Gray and Zach Smith did the heavy lifting and piled up 32 of their combined 59 points during the second half to lift the Texas Tech men's basketball team to a hard-fought 75-69 victory over TCU on Wednesday at the United Supermarkets Arena.

The Red Raiders (14-4, 3-3 Big 12) protected their home floor for the 17th consecutive time and has won three of their last four matchups versus TCU (14-4, 3-3 Big 12). The victory also pushed Texas Tech into four-way tie with Iowa State, Kansas State and TCU for fourth place in the Big 12 standings.

For Evans, he reached the 20-point for a team-leading third time this season. He also extended his run to a career-long seven consecutive games in double figures. Evans dished out three assists and was a flawless 8-for-8 at the free throw line, all coming in the second half.

Gray pumped home a Big 12 season-best 18 points coupled with six rebounds and two assists over a career-high 38 minutes of court time. It marked his first game in double figures since an 11-point effort at Richmond on Dec. 17.

Smith fired in 19 points, seven rebounds and three assists. He was 7-of-13 from the floor and matched a career-high streak with five straight games with 10-plus points.

"Those guys [Justin Gray, Keenan Evans, and Zach Smith] played great," Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. "In this league, your best players have to show up. It's almost like your big three have to do it every night, and you really need a fourth player. I don't know who our big three are because we have a big 11. We've got to have three or four guys step up every game. Tonight, I was really proud of Justin. He's been dealing with some things injury wise, and he doesn't complain. He works. Tonight, I wanted to put him in a situation early offensively. He got into a good rhythm and give the players a lot of credit for that – good screens, good passes and good intelligence. Again, those guys played great tonight."

Devon Thomas notched eight points and two assists, while Anthony Livingston and Aaron Ross added five points apiece. Ross also grabbed five rebounds.

Texas Tech registered a 22-of-47 shooting clip and knocked down 6-of-14 from beyond the three-point arc. The Red Raiders connected on 25-of-31 at the free throw line and led for 36:22 of the contest.

TCU countered going 28-for-59 from the field and buried 8-for-29 on three-pointers. The Horned Frogs shot 5-for-9 at the charity stripe. TCU held a 26-16 advantage in paint points and tallied 17 of the game's 22 points off the bench.

Vladimir Brodziansky, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week, provided a balanced 22 points, six rebounds and five blocks for the Horned Frogs. He scored 12 of his game-leading 22 points after halftime. Kenrich Williams secured 16 points whereas Alex Robinson nearly compiled a triple-double with 11 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.

All square at 64-64 with 3:08 remaining, the Red Raiders closed the contest with 11 of the last 17 points down the stretch ignited by six-point flurry. Evans delivered three critical free throws out of the final media timeout, and Gray made it a two-possession game with a 16-footer on the right elbow late shot clock courtesy of a driving Smith.

Ahead 70-66 with 33.8 seconds to go and out of a timeout, Gray threw the home run pass the length of the floor to a wideopen Thomas for a layup to beat the TCU press. The Red Raiders wrapped up the six-point decision and hit a trio of free throws inside the closing 15 seconds.

Texas Tech sank its opening five shot attempts out of gate to build a 13-2 advantage at the 16:22 mark. Gray buried a couple of midrange jumpers as the ice breaker followed by a Livingston step in jumper off the pump fake. After two Thomas free throws, Gray drove his defender and extended for a left-handed layup before Livingston got the shooter's roll on a trey from the right wing.

The Red Raiders stretched the lead to 14 points on three occasions, the latest at 36-22 with 4:39 left after a pair of Ross free throws after a technical foul that was issued to TCU head coach Jamie Dixon.

The Horned Frogs closed the halftime gap to 41-33 aided by a trio of three-balls highlighted by back-to-back treys from Brodziansky 50 seconds apart.

TCU kept pushing and ripped off 12 of the opening 15 points of the second half. The Horned Frogs took their first lead at 45-44 on a Williams trey with 14:44 on the clock.

The two teams would go back-and-forth for the next 10 minutes. The Evans-Gray-Smith trio brought the Red Raiders to the winner's circle and racked up 29 of the closing 31 points, the lone exception was the Thomas layup in the closing minute.

"Our guys just have a lot of poise," Beard said. "You coach teams different ways. Some teams I've coached, in those moments, you just have to be confident and calm. With this team, I can really be myself because I can't rattle those guys. I got a piece of them late, and they responded. I really feel like we're in this together. They're a fun team to coach because they're older guys. I'm going to miss these seniors when they're gone. It's a part of our identity, and I think one of the reasons why we're pretty good in tough situations. We don't really come unraveled is because we have older, experienced players."

Texas Tech plays its first weekend conference home game versus Oklahoma State on Saturday. Tip time is slated for 1 p.m., and the game will be televised by ESPNU along with the Watch ESPN app.

Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the men's basketball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/TexasTechMBB along with @TexasTechMBB on Twitter and Instagram.