AUSTIN — A few tortillas pinwheeled down from the Erwin Center’s upper bowl once Saturday’s game ended, one more strange scene on a day rife with them.
The burnt orange contingent had mostly filed out by the time No. 11 Texas Tech’s 61-55 win over Texas went final. But the “sea of red” — Red Raiders coach Mark Adams’ words — remained, hooting and hollering like they’d just snuffed out the 20th-ranked Longhorns and former coach Chris Beard back home in Lubbock.
And if you closed your eyes amid the post-game revelry, your brain might have believed this was United Supermarkets Arena, not Texas’ domain. Texas Tech played like it owned the joint, too, feeding off a capacity crowd of 16,540 filled with rowdy red-shirted infiltrators.
“I mean, the way our fans showed out and the way they were screaming for us when we were scoring and playing defense, you really couldn’t tell (who had the home-court advantage),” Texas Tech junior guard Clarence Nadolny said. “I mean, we lay our heart, blood, tears, sweat all on the floor for them. They show out for us, so we want to show out for them.”
Texas Tech (21-6, 10-4 Big 12) has now swept Texas (19-8, 8-6) and the Coach Who Left. Its latest win also helped crystalize the Big 12 title picture, now a clear three-team race between No. 6 Kansas, No. 7 Baylor and Adams’ surprising outfit.
For the Longhorns, who grinded out a gritty overtime win at Oklahoma on Tuesday, this was another reality check, another missed opportunity, another setback. And it was oh-so-ugly.
This game played tighter than the first, a 77-64 Red Raiders’ win in a sold-out jamboree at United Supermarkets Arena. But the recipe for victory remained largely the same in the rematch save for a few notable adjustments made by Adams and his staff.
Tech caged starting guard Marcus Carr, forcing him toward the sideline and into the corners, away from his bread-and-butter spots in the paint and mid-range. And if he did maneuver inside, a horde was always waiting.
After scoring 18 in the first meeting, Carr failed to score on six shot attempts, his first scoreless outing since Dec. 30, 2017, back when he was a Pittsburgh freshman.
“They’re not going to be a team that’s going to let a player play well against them twice,” Carr said. “They were just trying to get after me, whenever I was driving make sure to collapse and not give me any driving lanes or anything easy.”
Texas really felt the absence of 6-foot-9 junior Tre Mitchell (personal), too.
Dylan Disu played only five minutes, and Tech attacked the junior forward on the interior over and over in his limited time on the floor. Starting forward Timmy Allen dealt with foul trouble all game and finished with just six points and two rebounds in 14 minutes. Junior Brock Cunningham (seven points, six rebounds) defended like an angry yellowjacket that wouldn’t buzz off and hit a couple timely shots, but he also fouled out in 18 minutes.
So Texas Tech kept going back to the well, driving down the lane through little resistance, feeding on offensive rebounds (17) and second-chance points (15), drawing shooting fouls (20-for-29 on free throws). Senior forward Bryan Williams (17 points), Nadolny (14) and junior guard Terrence Shannon put on most the most pressure, and they were rewarded with a combined 20 free-throw attempts.
Texas did limit the Red Raiders to 36.5 percent shooting and just three 3s, but it shot a frosty 28.3 percent itself, at one point missing 16 straight shots. It also generated just six second-chance points off 16 offensive rebounds and scored only 10 points in the paint while missing 8 of 10 layups.
“I think our hearts are in the right place, we’re trying to make plays. But sometimes you gotta move the ball a little more than normal and let the game come to you,” Beard said. “We’re disappointed we didn’t play better today. It’s a hurt locker room right now for us.”
Texas looked cooked for good when the Red Raiders used a 6-0 run to go up by 10 with 3:38 left. But Allen finally mustered up a couple clutch buckets, finishing a fast-break feed from guard Andrew Jones then drawing a shooting foul after stealing the ensuing inbounds pass.
Allen hit both free throws. Then Jones, who scored a team-high 20 points for the second straight game, took advantage of a misplayed switch to bomb in a deep 3, cutting Texas Tech’s lead to one with 96 seconds to go.
Texas never scored again. Jones missed a layup, Jase Febres whiffed on a 3 and Nadolny grabbed a key offensive rebound and got fouled with 23 seconds left. The crowd, the one clad in red, went wild.
“That was personal,” Nadolny said. “You don’t want to lose against the guy that left you.”
