Texas Tech pulls off season’s gutsiest win, from down 17 against Duke at MSG

By Sam Federman (@Sam_Federman)

NEW YORK — Look. I don’t want to make you sit through cliche after cliche about Texas Tech’s performance.

The Red Raiders should have been run out of Madison Square Garden on multiple different occasions Saturday night against Duke. The Blue Devils came in as eight-and-a-half point favorites, Texas Tech was down bodies, and even after taking a 9-0 lead, Duke pulled ahead by double digits in the first half.

But they didn’t win.

Down by 17 points, Christian Anderson took over the game, scoring 23 of his 27 points in the second half. His final point was the go-ahead free throw with 3.4 seconds left. Cameron Boozer didn’t get his final shot off before the buzzer, and Texas Tech somehow, someway, flew back to Lubbock with a remarkably impressive 82-81 culture win.

“I’m horrible at just about everything,” head coach Grant McCasland said. “But I just got fight and grit and hope and belief in people that I’m around. And then they believe in each other, and it’s contagious.”

The Red Raiders – already a top-heavy roster that doesn’t get a ton from its bench – didn’t have key big man Luke Bamgboye available, which forced superstar JT Toppin and superutility LeJuan Watts to shoulder the load guarding Boozer. Duke got the two Texas Tech forwards into serious foul trouble. Toppin picked up two fouls early, then a third with four minutes left in the first half. That’s the first moment that the Blue Devils should’ve put their foot on Tech’s throat. But they didn’t, only able to extend the lead to 10.

They continued to extend the lead out and drew fouls the second half, but the Red Raiders lingered around, making some important shots to trade baskets, and eventually got Anderson going.

Watts fouled out for Texas Tech with 11 minutes left. As a back-down mid-post player, he was the Red Raiders’ most effective offensive force against the Blue Devils. By this point, Leon Horner had already fouled out, and Toppin had four fouls. McCasland couldn’t afford to keep Toppin on Boozer, so he inserted freshman Nolan Groves into the game for the first time.

“I told Nolan in the parking lot after (the last game),” McCasland said. “Hey, you’re going to play in Madison Square Garden, so be ready.”

And ready, he was.

Groves was being backed down from the perimeter, but showed grit and toughness to not get beat all the way to the basket, and allow for just enough help to come on enough possessions. He certainly didn’t shut Boozer completely down, as he still got to the foul line late in the game, but he showed enough for Duke to not hunt the matchup over and over again.

“You never know when your name is gonna get called in big moments like this,” Toppin said of Groves. “He’s been showing up every day, and that’s the outcome. He got some stops down the stretch.”

“It’s pretty cool when a guy like Nolan Groves, who shoots an airball and goes 0-for-2 plays 13 minutes, has one offensive rebound, three fouls, but he’s a plus-13,” McCasland added. “That just shows you what impact you can have on a college basketball game no matter what.”

His impact allowed Toppin to stay in the game and not foul while Texas Tech ran its pick-and-roll with the big man and Anderson to get switches on the guard for big-time baskets.

But it’s still so easy to pick up just one foul over the course of 11 minutes. If Toppin went out, Texas Tech may not have had any sort of option to replace him, so he had to take some chances.

“I tried my best to wall up,” Toppin said. “If I had to give up a bucket, I’d give a bucket up because I wanted to stay and help my teammates, because we were so small out there.”

Texas Tech cut it to four quickly after the Watts foul-out, but Duke ran the lead back out to 11, before back-to-back threes for Anderson.

Jon Scheyer said that Duke’s defense had to make difficult decisions on how to guard the two-man game between Anderson and Toppin with their switches. It compounded as Anderson made tough shot after tough shot to will the Red Raiders back into it.

“JT, my other teammates, the coaches, they just kept pushing me,” Anderson said. “I gotta be aggressive if we want to win this game. Not even making shots, but just put pressure on the defense and make plays to keep the defenders on their toes.”

Anderson gave Texas Tech a four-point lead, 81-77, with just over a minute left, but Cayden Boozer made two impressive plays in a row, with a corner three and a defensive stop to give Duke the chance to win the game with 30 seconds left.

Cam Boozer then drew a foul with 18 seconds left, but made just one of two free throws, and Anderson drew a foul on Foster with three seconds to play. After making the first free throw, Anderson missed the second, and Duke got the rebound to call timeout.

With just 1.6 seconds on the clock – knocked down from the original 1.9 – Boozer failed to get off his three before the buzzer, and Texas Tech somehow clawed out the win.

The rowdy contingent of Red Raider fans hugged and threw their Guns Up. Those fans didn’t come all the way from West Texas to New York in December just to see Tech lose.

They didn’t care that Duke fans outnumbered them. They showed the same belief and energy that the players and staff credited with how they were able to come back.

“That’s the heart of being a Red Raider,” McCasland said. “Let people count you out, let’s see what happens.”