No Kevin McCullar. No Terrence Shannon, Jr. No problem.
The No. 25 Texas Tech Red Raiders apparently didn’t need their two best players as they defeated the No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks 75-67 Saturday at the United Supermarkets Arena.
It is Tech head coach Mark Adams’ first top-10 win as a head coach and already his second top-25 victory.
The win comes after Tech lost by just four to No. 11 Iowa State on Wednesday despite having just seven players.
“I think what we learned from that was we’re still a team,” Adams said, “whether we’re missing two or three guys or five guys, and we have to believe in the program and believe in the system and believe in each other.”
That they did, and Tech is now 11-3 on the season and 1-1 in conference play. Kansas picked up just their second loss on the season to drop to 11-2.
First Half
The first half was magnificent from the Red Raiders, forcing 10 turnovers in the first half, four of them on Kansas offensive fouls.
Freshman guard Clarence Nadolny got his first start, and he set a career-high in points in the first half alone, scoring 11 of his 17 total points and adding two steals as he was a menace on both ends of the floor.
Nadolny was able to drive into the paint and score with ease in the first half, including an and-one that broke a 12-12 tie.
Adams said Nadolny got a lot of confidence from playing well against Iowa State on Wednesday, and Adams said Nadolny’s courage and intensity is contagious to the rest of the team.
“This is a guy that was loyal to me when I took this job, and he loves Texas Tech, and he’s a great Red Raider, just plays so hard,” Adams said. “He’s one of my favorites on the floor, I imagine he’s a fan favorite too, and he just gives everything he has.”
The Red Raiders allowed senior guard Ochai Agbaji and bench sophomore forward Jalen Wilson to combine for 21 points in the first half, but Tech only let the rest of the Jayhawks put up four points.
At first, it was back and forth with both teams shooting the ball well. Texas Tech stayed in it by forcing turnovers and not even letting them take shots.
Then Kansas was able to get shots, and outside of Agbaji and Wilson, they could not make a three-pointer to save their lives.
Then, no Jayhawk could figure out how to score for the last four minutes and 21 seconds of the first half, and the Red Raiders turned a one-point lead into an eight-point 33-25 lead at the half with a 7-0 run.
Second Half
Kansas got back into scoring in the second half, with Agbaji and Wilson continuing to put up points for the Jayhawks.
Super senior forward Bryson Williams, who scored nine in the first half, put up 13 more in the second half, including two clutch shots to give the Red Raiders 11-point leads, and later a slam dunk with a Kansas defender in his face.
Williams finished with 22 points on an impressive 9-for-13 shooting.
The UTEP transfer, who made just 10 shots combined in the Red Raiders’ previous four top-25 games, talked about Adams’ trust in him, even when he wasn’t playing at his best.
“It’s very reassuring,” Williams said. “I know me and Coach Adams had multiple talks about that and he knows what I’m capable of, and I believe in him 100%. 110% really.”
Adams said of all the great performances tonight, he’s really proud of Williams because he showed the game that they knew he had.
“This is a guy we’ve seen in practice, we’ve seen all summer, we saw him last year [at UTEP], and it was just awesome seeing him out there playing like we know he can play with confidence and making so many big plays,” Adams said.
He continued to say that it’s a game to build on for him and they can use him more like a go-to guy going forward.
Junior guard Mylik Wilson, a transfer from Louisiana, came off the bench in his first action since he left the game against Tennessee with an injury, and he led the team in assists with five as he also added four rebounds and five points.
Kansas sometimes got within five points, but Texas Tech always had an answer.
On one sequence with Tech just up five after an Agbaji three-pointer, senior Davion Warren drove hard into the paint to draw the foul and make the layup anyway.
Agbaji made a three-pointer not long after, and Bryson Williams answered a minute later with a slam dunk to get the crowd on its feet again.
Kansas started to slow down again near the end of the half, and Tech’s defense never let up as they got their first win over Kansas in a little under three years, and without arguably their two best players.
Up Next
The Red Raiders will now have an even tougher opponent in their next game as they go to Waco, Texas, to play the No. 1 Baylor Bears for their first of three games next week due to the rescheduling of the Oklahoma State game.
Tech will play Baylor on the road Tuesday, Oklahoma State at home Thursday, and Kansas State on the road Jan. 15.
Adams said they will enjoy this win right now before preparing for the Bears.
“I wish you hadn’t brought that up because I was enjoying the win ’til you mentioned that,” Adams said with a grin.
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