Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
4-1,0-0Big 12
Wake Forest
3-2,0-0ACC
No. 15 Red Raiders knock off Demon Deacons
November 20, 2025 | Men's Basketball
NASSAU, Bahamas – JT Toppin went for 21 points, nine rebounds and four assists to lead No. 15 Texas Tech to an 84-83 win over Wake Forest at the Baha Mar Championship on Thursday at the Baha Mar Convention, Arts and Entertainment Center. The Red Raiders (4-1) will now play No. 1 Purdue (5-0) at 8:30 p.m. (CST) on Friday in the Baha Mar Championship final after the top-ranked Boilermakers earned an 80-71 win over Memphis in the first game of the event.
"We started showing some grit at the end of the game," Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland said. "Showed some fight. I was thankful to get the win and thought our guys fought the right way down the stretch."
Tech, which led the Demon Deacons by one at halftime, would trail for most of the second half before a 3-pointer by Christian Anderson gave the Red Raiders their first lead in the half with 6:55 on the clock. The game would see nine lead changes and seven ties, including when Jaylen Petty drilled a 3-pointer off an assist from Anderson to tie the game at 76 with two minutes to play. Anderson would put the Red Raiders ahead 78-76 with a jumper in the lane and two free throws each from LeJuan Watts and Petty ensured Wake Forest would not regain the lead.
Anderson finished the game with 16 points and eight assists while Tyeree Bryan added 13 points with three 3-pointers, seven rebounds and two steals. Petty was 3-for-6 on 3-pointers and matched his season-high with 11 points while adding three assists and five rebounds. Donovan Atwell also hit three 3-pointers, finishing with nine points, and Watts contributed eight points, six rebounds and six assists. Luke Bamgboye played 13 minutes in his second game back from a lower body injury, adding six rebounds and six points to the win.
"It says a lot about this group," McCasland said. "Christian and JT's composure at the end of the game was settling for us. Jaylen Petty was tremendous. He hit some big shots and I thought his on-ball defense was great. He only had one turnover and three assists. For a freshman to go in there and play almost the entire second half with the grit he showed really gave us a lift."
Tech finished the game 12-for-35 on 3-pointers and owned a 44-33 rebounding advantage. The Red Raiders had 22 assists on 28 makes,16 offensive rebounds and 14 second-chance points. The Demon Deacons were limited to eight 3-pointers and had a 23-12 scoring advantage on turnovers. At the free-throw line, the Red Raiders went 16-for-21 while Wake Forest was only 13-of-22. Â
Juke Harris led the Demon Deacons with 26 points and 10 rebounds while Myles Colvin added 19 points and six rebounds. Wake Forest will take on Memphis at 6 p.m. (CST) in the consolation of the Baha Mar Championship on Friday.
Tech took a 35-34 lead into the break after being up by as many as 11 points in the first half. Toppin led the Red Raiders with 12 points and five rebounds while Atwell had already hit three 3-pointers and had nine points. Anderosn had five points and four assists and Watts was at four assists and four points going into the locker room. The Red Raiders had 11 offensive rebounds and a 26-22 overall rebounding advantage but were only 5-for-21 from beyond the arc and had eight turnovers. Wake Forest scored the game's first points with a 3-pointer but saw a barrage from the Red Raiders with three straight 3-pointers from Anderson, Bryan and Atwell. The run grew to 13-0 with back-to-back layups from Toppin before the Demon Deacons were able to stop it. Atwell hit his second 3-pointer of the half for a 28-18 lead and his third to put Tech up 35-24 but Wake Forest would end the first half on a 10-0 run to trim its deficit to one. The Demon Deacon bench scored 24 of its 34 points in the half, led by Colvin with 10 and Marion and Schwieger scoring six each. Tech was shooting 14-for-39 (35.9 percent) from the field and Wake Forest shot 13-for-34 (38.2 percent) through the opening 20 minutes of play.
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