NCAA
Texas Tech 68, Oklahoma 60
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
NORMAN, Okla. — The Texas Tech Red Raiders just keep causing problems for the teams ahead of them in the Big 12 standings, this time holding on for dear life for a road win at the Oklahoma Sooners.
The Red Raiders led by 20 in the second half, but saw that margin shrink to three before finally grasping a 68-60 victory over the Sooners on Wednesday night at the Lloyd Nobles Center.
Texas Tech guard Robert Turner scored 16 points and had five assists to lead his team to its third straight win. The Red Raiders’ victory came on the heels of their 65-61 upset of Oklahoma State on Saturday, a game that made national headlines after Cowboys guard Marcus Smart went into the stands to shove a Texas Tech fan.
The Sooners played sloppy basketball and were ice cold shooting as they watched Texas Tech build a 20-point lead early in the second half.
The Red Raiders (13-11, 5-6 Big 12) reached their largest margin on a dunk by forward Dejan Kravic with 16:40 left in the second half.
Oklahoma began shooting its way back into the game six minutes into the second half when guard Frank Booker hit a 3-pointer.
Sooners forward Tyler Neal hit a trey on the next trip down and Booker followed with another 3-pointer. Booker then came up with a steal on the defensive end and passed ahead to guard Je’Lon Hornbeak for a layup.
Hornbeak added another steal and a layup and then went to the basket and drew a foul for the three-point play that cut Texas Tech’s lead to less than 10.
Sooners guard Isaiah Cousins made it back-to-back three-point plays as Oklahoma’s game-changing 18-2 run reached its crescendo.
But Texas Tech guard Dusty Hannahs, who finished with 10 points, hit a 3-pointer to stop the bleeding and boost the Red Raiders lead back to six points with 7:12 left.
In the first half, Texas Tech turned up the defensive pressure to produce three steals, igniting a 10-0 run to take a 20-10 lead.
Turner started the surge with a steal and an assist to guard Toddrick Gotcher. Gotcher added a steal and a fast-break layup, and forward Jordan Tolbert came up with s steal and passed ahead to Turner for a dunk to cap the run.
Texas Tech posted its largest lead of the first half, 17 points, when forward Jaye Crockett hit two free throws with 1:25 left before halftime. At the time, of Oklahoma was in the midst of a three-minute scoring drought.
Sooners guard Buddy Hield hit a 3-pointer to end the stretch, but Oklahoma still trailed 35-21. Texas Tech guard Randy Onwuasor made a layup to boost the Red Raiders’ halftime lead to 16.
Oklahoma shot 28 percent in the first half and went 3-for-14 from 3-point range. Guard Cameron Clark hit two 3-pointers early in the half, and he led Oklahoma with 12 points in the first 20 minutes.
The Sooners committed 11 turnovers in the opening half while getting outrebounded 21-16.
NOTES: Oklahoma dropped out of the AP Top 25 this week after an overtime loss at West Virginia and a 16-point home victory over Baylor. … The Sooners won the first matchup of this season with Texas Tech, 74-65. Oklahoma was attempting to sweep the regular-season series with the Red Raiders for the second consecutive season. … Texas Tech defeated Oklahoma State on Saturday, its second win over a ranked opponent this season. It is the first season in which the Red Raiders accomplished that feat since 2007-08. Texas Tech beat then-No. 12 Baylor last month.
