No. 22 Aggies hold off Red Raiders in Fort Worth

Sunday, December 8

Fort Worth, Texas

2 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

7-2,0-0Big 12

No. 22 Texas A&M

8-2,0-0SEC

Texas A&M

Texas Tech

No. 22 Aggies hold off Red Raiders in Fort Worth

December 08, 2024 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Press Conference Box Score Highlights Tech Stat Pack

By: Wes Bloomquist

FORT WORTH – A pair of last-minute 3-pointers from Chance McMillian gave Texas Tech life but eight Texas A&M free throws in that final minute staved off the comeback attempt as the No. 22-ranked Aggies took a 72-67 win at the US LBM Coast-to-Coast Challenge on Sunday inside a sold-out Dickies Arena.

"We got off to a bad start in this one and looked uncomposed," Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. "We just didn't have the level of grit that we needed to have to win this basketball game to start. I thought A&M's change of defense, length, athleticism and switch ability – we just didn't have enough inside-out presence to put pressure on the basket consistently. I loved our team's fight. Just too many turnovers, and ultimately, they got too many offensive rebounds that led to extra possessions."

A rivalry that has now been played 126 times was renewed for the first time since 2012 and saw Texas A&M (8-2) extend a seven-game winning streak over Texas Tech in a game where the Aggies forced 18 turnovers and led by as many as 11 points in the first half before the Red Raiders led by five early in the second half. Down 34-31 at halftime, McMillian hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 34 coming out of the break and the Red Raiders had a 41-36 lead after a pair of Elijah Hawkins shots. Two McMillian free throws gave Tech a 52-49 lead with eight minutes to play before the Aggies went on an 11-0 run to regain and build out a 60-52 lead. The final minute saw McMillian make a 3-pointer with 50 seconds left, Darrion Williams hitting another to cut it to four and McMillian drain his final shot with 2 seconds remaining. The Aggies finished the night 13-for-18 at the free-throw line, including two from Wade Taylor in the finals seconds to push the final margin to five.

"We have the right team," McCasland said. "I believe in this team. I think we have the right pieces when we have everyone healthy and are playing the right way. Our commitment to playing the right way and for each other has to be better. It showed up in our turnovers. It showed up in our in our lack of composure against a team that can make you feel frantic at times. That was the difference for me. We have to get more experience at handling these situations as a team. We have a competitive group and will be ready for this next week and Big 12 play."

McMillian led the Red Raiders with a season-high 23 points after going 5-for-10 on 3-pointers, while Kevin Overton made four 3-pointers and finished with 17 points. Williams finished the game with 11 points, five assists and four rebounds. Hawkins added five assists and seven points and Federiko Federiko contributed seven points, six rebounds and four steals. The Red Raiders played the game without their leading scorer and rebounder, JT Toppin, who missed his second straight game with a lower body injury.

McMillian, who now has six games in his career with 20-plus, is averaging 15.7 points per game this season after also scoring 22 in the win over DePaul earlier in the week. He's now shooting 25-for-48 (52.1 percent) from 3-point range this season and has made 199 in his career.

"This means a lot to Chance," McCasland said. "He's a senior that takes coaching every day. He's got a tremendous amount of belief in this program and his will, heart and competitiveness really showed. Unfortunately, we just didn't do enough to give him help in other areas."

Texas Tech finished the game 12-for-31 (38.7 percent) on 3-pointers and were at 45.1 percent from the field. The team shot 9-for-12 from the free-throw line with McMillian going 4-of-4 and Williams making 3-of-4. The Aggies made nine 3-pointers in a game where they had 18 offensive rebounds and forced 18 turnovers by the Red Raiders. The Aggies, who put up 16 more shots in the game than Tech, were limited to 37.3 percent shooting but had an 18-9 scoring advantage on turnovers and 15-7 on second-chance points in the final stat count.

"I thought our turnovers cost us the most," McCasland said. "You have to get a shot off against them. We need to be more consistent in attacking the paint."

Taylor led Texas A&M with 19 points despite going just 2-for-8 on 3-pointers, while Jace Carter added 16 points with three 3-pointers. Taylor finished 5-for-5 at the free-throw line and also had four assists and two steals. Zhuric Phelps added 12 points and Solomon Washington added eight points and a game-high nine rebounds. Washington finished the game with six offensive rebounds while the Red Raiders had nine as a team with three coming from Federiko.

Texas Tech fought back from as much as 11 in the first half and trailed 34-31 going into the break. Overton led the Red Raiders with 14 points after going 4-for-6 on 3-pointers in the first half while McMillian had seven and Williams and Federiko four points each. Overton and Federiko had three rebounds for the Red Raiders who were being out-rebounded by a 21-17 margin through the opening 20 minutes. Tech went into the break shooting 5-for-15 on 3s while the Aggies were 6-for-14 after an early flurry that had them leading 26-15 just five minutes into the game. Tech trailed 11-2 to start the game after an 8-0 run with the Red Raiders shooting just 1-for-7 from the field and 0-for-5 from 3-point range to start the game. The Red Raiders got back into the game with Overton hitting 3s though and were on a 10-0 with two from the sophomore to make it 13-8. Another run, this time 8-0, started with a Yalaho dunk and finished with an Overton layup to make it 26-24 to get the Red Raiders to their closest margin in the first half. Carter led the Aggies with 13 first-half points off the bench while Taylor had eight points and four assists. Carter was 3-for-3 on 3s and Taylor had two going into the break.

Texas Tech, now 64-62 all-time against Texas A&M in the historic series, is off from game action next week before returning to host Oral Roberts at 7 p.m. on Monday, December 16 at the United Supermarkets. The Red Raiders come into the game with a 6-0 record at home this season and are on a 36-game non-conference home winning streak as a program.

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