What Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said after losing to BYU

When BYU first faced Texas Tech this season back in January, the Cougars held a 16-1 record, only to fall 84-71 in Lubbock.

Since that loss seven weeks ago, BYU had stumbled into a 4-10 skid, including a 3-game losing streak entering Saturday’s rematch with the Red Raiders.

But the Cougars made magic happen in their regular season finale, storming back in the second half to upset Texas Tech 82-76 and incite a rowdy court storming celebration at the Marriott Center.

“Credit to BYU, what a great environment,” McCasland told reporters following the loss. “I mean, it’s not like they’ve been playing their best basketball (recently), I thought they had a second half where they played great. This environment really made a difference in this game.”

Despite hitting 12 3-pointers in the first half, Texas Tech shot just 38% from the field after halftime to squander an early 13-point lead.

The Cougars, who shot just 23% from 3-point range, survived such a suspect deep shooting night by scoring 48 paint points, grabbing 20 offensive rebounds and allowing just 14 paint points from Texas Tech.

“I love our team, I love what we can be, but when you give up 20 offensive rebounds and you get crushed in the paint like we did today, it’s going to be hard to win any real games,” McCasland said. “And this is a real game against a great team that I thought found their edge tonight in a physical way. They didn’t shoot it great early, but they didn’t look discouraged, and I thought their defensive grit was better.

“... Give BYU credit because they shot it pretty poorly to start the game and couldn’t make a 3, but it didn’t discourage the way they competed. I thought they handled the adversity of not making shots better than we did, and they continued offensive rebounds and played with a great, great amount of energy.”

With the loss, Texas Tech receives the 4 seed in next week’s Big 12 tournament, earning a double bye and before its first tournament game on Thursday.

“I’m thankful we got till Thursday, I mean, we need a couple of days,” McCasland said.

“... So for us, we’re thankful that we put ourselves in a position to have that opportunity to play, and really we need the rest and to figure out a way how we can rebound better as a team.”

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