Red Raiders roll past Northern Colorado

Friday, November 29

Lubbock, Texas

7 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

6-1,0-0Big 12

Northern Colorado

6-3,0-0Big Sky

Northern Colo.

Texas Tech

Red Raiders roll past Northern Colorado

November 29, 2024 | Men's Basketball

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By: Wes Bloomquist

LUBBOCK – Darrion Williams and JT Toppin both recorded double-doubles and Kevin Overton went off for 20 points to help lead Texas Tech to an 89-64 win over Northern Colorado on Friday at United Supermarkets Arena.

The Red Raiders (6-1) have now won 35 straight non-conference home games after a game where they shot 13-for-23 (56.5 percent) from 3-point range, made 24-of-26 (92.3 percent) free throws and owned a 43-28 rebounding advantage. The Bears (6-3) came into the game averaging just under 90 points per game and were limited to 39.3 percent shooting overall and went just 6-of-23 (26.1 percent) on 3s.

"Northern Colorado is a really good team that is hard to defend and who can score in different ways," said Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland who improved to 20-2 in home games leading the program. "We started slow, but my favorite part about tonight was coming into the second half we challenged our group to be better defensively. They were 1-for-7 from the field because we were more connected and competitive on ball-screen scenarios."

Williams recorded his first double-double of the season and the 11th of his career with a team-high 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Toppin has his fourth of the season and 16th in his career after going for 15 rebounds and 11 points. Williams had five offensive rebounds and finished the night with three 3-pointers and was 6-for-6 at the free-throw line. He also added three assists. Toppin scored in double figures for the seventh straight game to begin the season and also had five offensive rebounds. He struggled from the field at 3-for-11 but would go 5-for-6 at the line.

Tech got 39 points from its bench, led by Overton who had his season-high 20 points after going 4-for-6 on 3-pointers and 7-for-11 overall from the field. He also had six rebounds in 28 minutes of play. Christian Anderson also scored a season-high with 12 points, making 4-of-6 3-pointers for the top performance of his young freshman season. Anderson also had three assists for the Red Raiders who finished with 13 assists on their 26 makes.

"We got a great lift off the bench from Kevin Overton and Christian Anderson," McCasland said. "Those two guys were tremendous. Their lift really changed the game and broke it open. That's the awesome part of depth. The strength of this team is that we can have different guys score on different nights. Kevin has really worked on his habits and that proves fruitful."

Chance McMillian added nine points by going 6-for-6 at the free-throw line, falling a point shy of double-figures for the only time this season, and Elijah Hawkins added seven points and three assists from the starting lineup. Federiko Federiko played 15 minutes as a reserve and contributed five points and three rebounds while Eemeli Yalaho played for the first time this season and scored two points in five minutes of playing time. The Red Raiders finished the game shooting 26-for-56 (46.4 percent) from the field and knocked down double-digit 3-pointers for the fourth time this season. For the season, Tech is now shooting 42.0 percent from 3-point range and is averaging 88.4 points per game. The team is 5-0 at home with a 32-point combined scoring margin of victory.

Texas Tech went on a 17-3 run to end the first half with Overton hitting a runner at the buzzer for a 50-29 lead going into the break. Overton led all scorers with 17 points after going 6-for-9 from the field, including making 3-of-4 from 3-point range. Williams added 13 points and seven rebounds through 20 minutes, while Toppin already had 11 rebounds and seven points for the Red Raiders who owned a 25-13 rebounding advantage at halftime. Anderson finished the half with six points after going 2-for-2 from deep. The 21-point halftime lead grew with Tech going 8-for-13 (61.5 percent) on 3s and 12-for-14 at the free-throw line. The Bears went into the break shooting just 3-for-14 on 3-pointers and 38.7 percent from the field. Tech trailed 4-0 early and would take its first lead of the game after Williams and Anderson hit 3s for a 9-8 lead. Another Williams 3 gave Tech a 39-26 lead as it began to pull away and his third pushed it to 48-29. Overton would cap the first half with a buzzer-beater to match the most points at halftime this season for the Red Raiders who also had 50 against Bethune-Cookman in the season-opener.

Texas Tech has not lost a non-conference home game since falling to Kentucky in a 76-74 overtime decision on January 25, 2019. The loss to Kentucky snapped a 54-game streak taking the current calculation to an 89-1 record during a span which started on December 30, 2013, with a win over Mount St. Mary's following a home loss to LSU.

UP NEXT: December 4, 2024: DePaul at Texas Tech (8:15 p.m.)
DePaul travels to Lubbock with a 7-0 record after an 89-70 win over Valparaiso on Friday afternoon in Chicago. The Blue Demons own a 3-0 all-time advantage in the series after a 65-60 overtime win over the Red Raiders in the most recent meeting on December 4, 2019, in Chicago. Tech is 1-3 all-time in the Big 12-Big East Battle after falling 103-95 in overtime at Butler last season in Hinkle Fieldhouse after beating Georgetown at home in the previous season. The Blue Demons also took a 76-70 win in the all-time series on November 25, 2011, in Orlando and a 50-47 victory on December 17, 1983, in Osaka, Japan. Chris Holtman is in his first season as the program's head coach after he led Ohio State for seven seasons, three at Butler and three at Gardner-Webb. The Blue Demons are coming off a 2023-24 season where they went 3-29, were 0-20 in Big East play and finished with an 0-11 road record.

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