Texas Tech spent most of the game in comfortable control Saturday in Boulder against Colorado. It took a gritty defensive stand for the Red Raiders to survive with a 73-71 victory, though when the Buffaloes’ comeback bid fell just short.
Barrington Hargress forced up an off-balance 3-point attempt with 1.7 seconds to go that was off the mark, allowing Texas Tech to survive after coughing up most of a lead that ballooned to 24 points in the second half.
The Red Raiders (12-4, 2-1 Big 12) steered through second-half foul trouble, with four starters ending the game with four fouls, including J.T. Toppin, who had to sit and watch for most of Colorado’s rally.
Toppin scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead Texas Tech. Donovan Atwell had a team-high 17 points and buried 5 of 13 from deep. Like his teammates, Atwell struggled to hit shots after halftime, missing 6 of 8. Texas Tech made only 12 of 34 from the field in the second half (35.3%) and was 3-for-14 from beyond the arc.
Freshman Isaiah Johnson was at the heart of the Buffaloes’ second-half about-face. Held scoreless in the first half, Johnson pumped in a game-high 21 points after the break, bolstered by 13-for-13 shooting from the free-throw line. Hargress added 17 points, but his final miss from beyond the arc left Colorado 6-for-21 from deep.
The Red Raiders padded a 43-27 halftime lead to 58-24 on Christian Anderson’s fast-break slam dunk at the 13:39 juncture and seemed to be on the way to a lopsided triumph.
Instead, Colorado flipped the script and Johnson was a big reason why, along with a stingier defensive effort.
Johnson still only had two points when the deficit was 24 but got aggressive against the Texas Tech defense and started piling up free-throw attempts. That sparked a 14-1 run over 3:03 and when Alon Michaeli made a driving layup, Colorado was within 61-55.
The Buffaloes chipped away and closed the gap to 73-71 on Sebastian Rancik’s 3-point with 43 seconds to go. The Red Raiders missed two shots on the other end and Bangot Dak snatched a rebound with 12 seconds to go. But without a timeout, Colorado couldn’t penetrate the Texas Tech defense for a better shot.
