KANSAS CITY — BYU’s desire to exact some revenge for a regular-season loss at Texas Tech didn’t go as planned as the Red Raiders held off the Cougars 81-67 in a Big 12 tournament quarterfinal game at T-Mobile Center on Thursday.
Texas Tech dominated the first half, taking a 42-23 lead at the break, then withstood a BYU rally and beat the Cougars for the second time this season. BYU, which never had the lead, shot just 37% and made only seven 3-pointers, on 35 attempts, after draining 14 in Wednesday’s win over UCF
BYU, No. 20 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, fell to 23-10 overall and still has not won a conference tournament since 2001. The Cougars will await Sunday’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show to find out who, when and where they will be playing in the Big Dance.
Texas Tech improved to 23-9 and will meet either Houston or TCU in Friday’s semifinals.
Here are three keys to BYU’s quarterfinal loss:
• Texas Tech continues to be a bad matchup for the Cougars, simple as that. Even while playing without big man Warren Washington, the Red Raiders dominated the first half in every facet, continuing their dominance from the second half of the first and only regular-season meeting. After outscoring BYU 53-30 in the second half in Lubbock, Tech outscored the Cougars 42-23 in the first 20 minutes in Kansas City. That’s 95-53 in 40 minutes of basketball. Tech won the early rebounding battle 26-17 and forced BYU into 21.2% shooting in the first half in building the 19-point advantage.
• For as hot as the Cougars were in the first half of their 87-73 win over UCF, they were as cold against Tech. Cold as the hailstorm that pounded Western Missouri Wednesday night. At one point in the first half BYU had missed 12 straight shots and made only 1 of 19, a stretch that allowed Tech to build a 37-15 lead. Pop Isaacs had 15 in the first half, on 6-of-11 shooting, as the Red Raiders shot 52% from the field and scored 12 second-chance points. Isaacs had 32 in the game in Lubbock and finished with 22 Thursday. Credit BYU for not quitting; the Cougars pieced together a 15-0 run and got within 62-55 with 5:04 remaining on two free throws by Richie Saunders. But Joe Toussaint and Darrion Williams hit 3-pointers to end a six-plus minute Tech scoring drought, and BYU’s uprising was squelched.
• BYU big man Aly Khalifa, who was fasting to observe Ramadan, nailed two big 3-pointers early Wednesday for the Cougars, but just didn’t have it Thursday. He missed his first two shots and then suffered an ankle injury in the first half that kept him on the bench the entire second half. He finished with three points in eight minutes. Fousseyni Traore started the second half and the Cougars made their first three shots of that period to get within 16, but Texas Tech answered with an 8-2 run and that was that.