Lamar Washington and coach Mark Adams hug after a win against Kansas State. (Zachary Sorrels) 
De’Vion Harmon and coach Mark Adams put their guns up during the fight song. (Zachary Sorrels) 
De’Vion Harmon and coach Mark Adams embrace after beating Kansas State. (Zachary Sorrels) 
Elijah Fisher passes the ball as Keyontae Johnson plays defense. (Zachary Sorrels) 
Fardaws Aimaq grabs the offensive rebound. (Zachary Sorrels) 
De’Vion Harmon dribbles around Ismael Massoud. (Zachary Sorrels) 
Lamar Washington is elated after taking the foul against Ismael Masoud. (Zachary Sorrels 
Kerwin Walton walks out of the tunnel during pre-game. (Zachary Sorrels) 
Pop Isaacs hypes De’Vion Harmon up during one of the final time out of the game. (Zachary Sorrels) 
De’Vion Harmon shoots a free throw in the final moments of the game. (Zachary Sorrels)
On Wednesday, Texas Tech men’s basketball was down as many as 14 points, but they clawed back against Oklahoma State to tie the game before losing on a buzzer-beating putback layup with 0.4 seconds to go.
Their response Saturday? A win over the No. 12 team in the country as they forced 23 turnovers from Kansas State (19-6, 7-5 Big 12) in a 71-63 win at the United Supermarkets Arena.
Texas Tech (13-12, 2-10 Big 12) got just their second Big 12 win, both of them coming over a top-25 team in Lubbock.
De’Vion Harmon led the team with 20 points and four assists while freshman Lamar Washington came off the bench and had a career-high 13 points.
Center Fardaws Aimaq played for the first time since Jan. 21, the last time Tech played Kansas State. Although he had just two points, a rebound and two assists, he got three steals and a block and had the highest plus-minus on the team at +17.
It was Kansas State forward Keyontae Johnson’s first game under 12 points this season. He only had nine points on 3-for-11 shooting, although he added eight rebounds.
The first half was a slugfest with a combined 21 made field goals, 21 turnovers and 20 personal fouls.
The big difference was Tech not just forcing turnovers but converting them into points. Tech had 17 points off turnovers, and Kansas State had just one.
Washington didn’t just have eight first-half points with some in big moments; he also caused four of Kansas State’s 14 turnovers in the first half.
“Very disappointed that we gave the ball away as many times as we did today,” Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang said. “Obviously, Tech gets some credit for that, but a lot of it was just we weren’t tough enough, and they exposed that.”
In the last 3:14 of the first half, it was Harmon who came alive with nine points as Tech went on a 12-3 run to get a 33-26 lead into halftime.
The second half had more points but also 26 fouls between the two teams. Kevin Obanor and Aimaq were in foul trouble for most of the second half with four fouls each.
Kansas State found a way to claw back, but just about every time they got within two points, the Red Raiders had an answer.
Sometimes it was a Washington three-pointer. Sometimes D’Maurian Williams made a clutch triple. Sometimes, it was Jaylon Tyson making a layup. Near the end, it was Harmon and Obanor finishing it out. Tech answered time after time as they never gave up the lead once they got it with 2:25 left in the first half.
After Nowell made two free throws to cut the Tech lead to 62-61, the Tech defense held strong, allowing just one made basket in the last 2:15.
“I feel like one of our problems is we’ve been in a lot of close games,” Washington said, “but we haven’t been able to execute down the stretch, and we just felt like today was the first day we learned how to win a game.”
Harmon talked about what this win means and how great the Texas Tech fanbase is. Fans stormed the court after the victory.
“Man, you see how excited they were after the game? Y’all see that?” Harmon asked. “They were out there, they were excited, and they have fun, like they really enjoy it. And the security guard was trying to block them off, and I was like, ‘Nah, we going to enjoy this one, come on, come on in here, man.’
“You want to share that with them. I mean, they go to school just like we do. They take time out of their lives to come watch us for two, three hours a night. It’s only right to play hard and give them everything we got, and when we win, for them to share it with us right there on the floor.”
Up Next
The Red Raiders have a quick turnaround before No. 5 Texas comes into town Monday.
“They got the oldest team in the conference, and they’re playing like it,” Tech head coach Mark Adams said. “They’re a very physical team, so we’ll have to try to figure out a way to match that physicality and we’ll have to play extremely well, and we need a great crowd to come out Monday night for that game.”
Adams said a lot of Texas players are back since they lost to the Longhorns on Jan. 14, so UT will be a better team coming to Lubbock.
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