Red Raiders drop Blue Demons

Wednesday, December 4

Lubbock, Texas

8:20 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

7-1,0-0Big 12

DePaul

7-1,0-0Big East

DePaul

Texas Tech

December 04, 2024 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights Press Conference

By: Wes Bloomquist

LUBBOCK – Chance McMillian scored a season-high 22 points and Darrion Williams reached 20 points for the third straight game to help lead Texas Tech to a 76-62 win over DePaul in a Big 12-Big East Battle matchup on Wednesday at United Supermarkets Arena.

The Red Raiders (7-1) extended their non-conference home winning streak to 36 and have now won all six of their home matchups this season by double digits. The win gave the Blue Demons (7-1) their first loss of the season and came with Tech playing without its leading scorer and rebounder JT Toppin who missed the game due to a lower body injury. McMillian led all scorers with his 22 points that came on 8-for-14 shooting from the field, while Williams added six rebounds, three assists and three steals to a 20-point night. McMillian had a previous season-high of 17 points against Bethune-Cookman and Saint Joseph's and is now averaging 14.8 points per game this season. His career-high of 27 came last year at Oklahoma.

"We locked in and tuned in more on the defensive side," McMillian said. "It really showed us how to move when the ball was rotating fast and we focused on that. They're a good team."

Tech started the game on a 12-0, led 38-37 at halftime and would an 8-0 run coming out of the break on a night where the lead grew to as large as 18 points midway through the second half. DePaul made nine 3-pointers in the first half but would be limited to only two in the second, while the Red Raiders stayed consistent throughout shooting 50.0 percent from the field and going 13-for-17 at the free-throw line.

"Our guys were really tremendous in the second half," Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. "To hold them to two 3s after they had nine at half, I thought our team played with great effort there. We weren't settling and got to the paint and the free-throw line on offense. Those two things were huge for us. You could tell this game meant a lot to Chance McMillian. He knew we were a little shorthanded and his ability to guard and have composure really separated us."

Kevin Overton and Christian Anderson added nine point each to lead the Tech reserves, while Federiko Federiko went for eight points and five rebounds from the starting lineup in place of Toppin. Elijah Hawkins led the team with five assists and four steals and Kerwin Walton hit one of the five Red Raider 3-pointers on the night. Williams is now averaging 17.1 points per game following 20 points against Syracuse, 21 last Friday against Northern Colorado and 20 against the Blue Demons. It's the first three-game stretch of 20-plus scoring in his career and gives him 765 points through 74 career games.

Tech finished the game 29-for-58 from the field and was 5-for-17 from 3-point range in the 14-point win. Defensively, Tech came away with 11 steals while the offense committed only six turnovers in the game. The Red Raiders came into the night averaging 10.1 3-pointers per game but dominated inside with a 36-24 scoring advantage in the paint.
DePaul gave a strong fight in the first half, fighting back from being down 12-0 to start the game but defensively Tech shut the Blue Demons down in the second half where they were only 2-for-14 on 3-pointers and shot just 35.7 percent from the field.

"I thought we guarded the ball better," McCasland said of the second half. "We did a better job of guarding the ball at the point of attack so we didn't have a guard rotating to the action. We gave up some slips to the rim but they needed to make 3s at that point. Our perimeter defense was the difference."

Jacob Meyer led DePaul with 14 points with four 3-pointers, JJ Traynor added 11 and Conor Enright made two 3s for the Blue Demons who were one of only 17 teams in the nation without a loss coming into the game.

Texas Tech jumped out to a 12-0 lead to start the game but went into halftime hanging onto a 38-37 lead going into the break. McMillian was leading the Red Raiders with 11 points after going 4-for-8 from the field while Williams had nine points. Federiko and Overton were at six points and Hawkins had four assists and three steals through 20 minutes. Tech was 3-for-6 on 3-pointers while DePaul fought back and stayed close by going 9-for-21 on 3s after starting the game missing its first eight 3-pointers. Tech's 12-0 run started with McMillian scoring on the opening possession with a left-handed layup, a Walton 3-pointer, two baskets from Williams and a Federiko layup. The Demons would get back into the game with a 17-2 run of their own and took their first lead at 34-33 on an Enright 3-pointer. A McMillian tip-in with one second remaining gave Tech the one-point halftime advantage in a first half where the team was 14-for-28 from the field and 7-of-8 at the free-throw line. The Blue Demons were 14-for-29 from the field with their nine 3-pointers but went 0-for-3 at the line.

The Red Raiders will now renew their rivalry with Texas A&M at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth. The Aggies (7-2) are coming off a 57-44 win over Wake Forest on Tuesday and are on a three-game winning streak that includes wins over Creighton and Rutgers. Tech and Texas A&M have not played since 2012.

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