Texas Tech Athletics
1-0,0-0Big 12
Jackson State
0-1,0-0SWAC
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jackson St. | 18 | 24 | 42 |
| Texas Tech | 38 | 38 | 76 |
November 02, 2026 | Men's Basketball
LUBBOCK, Texas โ Damarion Dennis scored a career-high 22 points and Cruz Davis had a career-best six steals to help lead No. 19 Texas Tech to a 76-42 season-opening win over Jackson State on Monday at United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders (1-0) extended their non-conference home winning streak to 47 games going into a Thursday night matchup against Bethune-Cookman at 8 p.m. in the USA.
Davis, who scored Tech's first points in the first and second half, finished with 15 points, six rebounds, six steals and five assists in the season opener โ coming up just short of the program record of seven steals. Tech finished the game with 12 steals as a team and forced 24 turnovers. Dennis, who averaged 11.2 points per game last season at Wyoming, made his Tech debut a career night by going 8-for-12 from the field and making 4-of-8 from beyond the arc. His four 3-pointers also set a new career best. Josiah Moseley led the Red Raiders with eight rebounds and added 13 points while freshman DaKari Spear scored eight points in his collegiate debut.
Tech finished the night with a 36-12 scoring advantage in the paint, outscored the Tigers by a 29-6 margin off turnovers and had a 17-0 fastbreak scoring advantage. Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn came into the game with 998 career points and crossed the 1,000-point scoring mark, going for five points while also adding four assists and three steals. From the starting lineup, Donovan Atwell and Bassala Bagayoko had four points each while Darrion Williams had five rebounds but was held to one point in his return to Tech. Trey Hall and Amari Barrett scored two points each in their first college game.
Defensively, Tech limited Jackson State to 29.2% shooting for the game and the 42 points were the fewest allowed in a season opener since the start of the 2018-19 season when the Red Raiders held Incarnate Word to 37. While Tech forced 24 turnovers, it committed only 10. Davis matched the second most steals in program history and passed his previous career-high of four that came last season against Hampton. Offensively, Davis was 5-for-7 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
Tech took a 38-18 lead into halftime with Dennis leading the team with 13 points and Davis scoring nine. The Red Raiders owned a 21-16 rebounding advantage, had a striking 16-2 scoring advantage in the paint and a 13-0 scoring margin off turnovers. Moseley led Tech with six rebounds and also had nine points at halftime while Atwell had four points. Davis had four of Tech's seven steals through 20 minutes. Jackson State went into halftime with 10 turnovers while Tech had only three. The Red Raiders made four 3-pointers in the first half with Dennis going 2-for-4 from beyond the arc and Spear and Davis hitting one each. Davis scored Tech's first points of the season, making a 3-pointer on its opening possession while a Spear 3-pointer gave Tech a 22-12 lead. Dennis, who came in as a reserve, would drain a 3-pointer then throw down a dunk off a pass from Davis for a 27-16 lead. Tech finished the first half on a 16-2 run to take the 20-point lead through 20 minutes.
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