No. 15 Texas Tech overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to stun No. 4 Texas 79-77 on Wednesday, Jan. 13. It's the Red Raiders' first-ever road victory against a top-5 team. The shocker also halted the Longhorns' winning streak at six games.
Texas Tech guard Mac McClung led all scorers with 22 points on 6-for-14 shooting, including the game-winning jumper with 2.2 seconds left. He added five rebounds, two assists and one steal.
Here's how the Red Raiders upset No. 4 Texas:
McClung delivered a clutch performance
Not much came easy for the visitors — they missed seven of their first eight field goal attempts. But McClung helped keep Texas Tech within striking distance all night long.
The Longhorns switched on defense, denying the Red Raiders the matchups they wanted offensively. As a result, Texas Tech relied on McClung to attack in isolation.
He answered the call. The guard had seven points on 3-for-5 shooting in the first 8:41. He drew shooting fouls on two 3-pointers in the final minutes of the first half, and made all six foul shots. That kept the Red Raiders in the game.
McClung's timely scoring kept the pressure on a Texas defense, especially on his last shot.
MAC CALLED GAME 😤 pic.twitter.com/eM25BEGcZV
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) January 14, 2021
Mistakes doomed the Longhorns
Texas outplayed the Red Raiders for much of the game, dictating the pace on both ends of the floor. But 15 turnovers cost the Longhorns.
Texas Tech scored 19 points off of those turnovers. Perhaps most crucial came in the closing moments.
Kyler Edwards (seven points, six rebounds) stole an in-bounds pass and quickly flipped it to Terrence Shannon Jr. (14 points, seven rebounds) for a layup. That tied the game, 77-77, with 36 seconds to play.
The Red Raiders committed seven turnovers of their own. But the Longhorns didn't capitalize on a single one.
A second-half surge lifted Texas Tech
Texas Tech flipped the script in final 20 minutes. The Red Raiders opened the second half on a quick 4-0 run, which forced a Longhorns timeout just 1:30 in.
After shooting 37 percent in the opening half, the Red Raiders hit 45.4 percent of their shots (15-for-33) in the second. The rival Longhorns shot only 8-for-24 in the second half and committed eight turnovers.
An Edwards pull-up 3-pointer gave Texas Tech a 71-69 advantage with under four minutes to play — their first lead since 2-1 in the opening minutes. Four Texas Tech players finished in double figures, helping the Red Raiders outscore the Longhorns 41-29 in the second half.
The Red Raiders will host No. 2 Baylor on Saturday, Jan. 16 at 4 p.m. ET. Texas will welcome Kansas State that same night at 8 p.m.
