At Desert Financial Arena on Tuesday night, the No. 13 Texas Tech Red Raiders (19-7, 9-4) were defeated by the Arizona State Sun Devils (14-12, 5-8) by a score of 72-67, even though JT Toppin scored 20 points before being forced to leave in the second half due to injury.
Tech ended its Arizona road trip by suffering its second loss since the beginning of February, despite winning its third game in program history against a No. 1-ranked team over the weekend.
The Tech big three—junior forward JT Toppin, sophomore guard Christian Anderson, and senior guard Donovan Atwell—helped the Red Raiders score 12 early points during the first five minutes of play. With five rebounds off the glass and nine points on 50% shooting from the field, Toppin led the Red Raiders in scoring for the first 20 minutes.
With Atwell adding six early points, Anderson had four rebounds, three assists, and eight points on three of five field goals.
However, despite having the lead for 16 minutes and a 7-0 push in the first half’s middle. Both sides of the floor saw the full force of Arizona State’s intensity throughout.
Senior guard Maurice Johnson, who paced the team with 10 points on 3-5 shooting, helped the Sun Devils ignite numerous scoring runs in the first half by forcing eight Tech turnovers and converting them into a total of 14 points.
In addition, freshman center Massamba Diop, the second-best scorer for the Sun Devils, contributed nine points on 4-9 shooting, starting and finishing the first half’s scoring and capping off an 8-0 Arizona State run in the last minutes by making a 25-foot three-pointer to put the Sun Devils ahead 37-36 at halftime.
As the Sun Devils raced out to a 13-3 run to begin the second half, Arizona State maintained their foot on the accelerator as they left the locker room. With 11 points, Toppin kept willing Tech to bring the momentum back into the Red Raiders’ favor.
Disaster, though, hit Texas Tech when Toppin fell with what seemed to be a lower-body injury as the game was about to reach the last six minutes. The current Big 12 Player of the Year required assistance getting back to the locker room and was unable to participate for the remainder of the contest.
Grant McCasland’s team fought their way back down by five despite the Red Raiders missing their top scorer, going on an 8-0 run in the last two minutes. Christian Anderson, who scored 10 points in the second half, was essential to Tech’s success.
With fewer than 30 seconds remaining, the Red Raiders were attempting to force overtime when he made a crucial layup off a turnover following two free throws from Texas Tech, bringing the score within three points.
The Sun Devils were able to hang on and defeat Tech 72-67, breaking an 11-game losing streak against AP-ranked opponents with four different players scoring in double figures and 21 points coming only from turnovers, thanks to a missed free throw by Donovan Atwell and a turnover by Christian Anderson that resulted in his fifth foul and the Red Raiders’ 17th turnover in the last seconds.
In preparation for a two-game home stand, Tech will host Kansas State (11-15, 2-11) in Lubbock’s United Markets Arena on Saturday, four days from today. The Wildcats are currently ranked 15th in the Big 12, but they are coming off their highest scoring performance of the year after defeating Baylor 90–74.
Powered by junior guard PJ. Haggerty, who scored 34 points on 15 of 23 shots, and senior guard Nate Johnson, who scored 33 points on 11 of 16 shots, Kansas State won its first game Tuesday night under interim coach Matthew Discroll.
Texas Tech is now two games behind the lead and continues to hold the fifth spot in the Big 12. With the clock running down on the end of the conference play schedule, the Red Raiders are still most concerned about the condition of Toppin’s injury as they try to recover.
The game between Texas Tech and Kansas State will begin at 1:30 p. m. CST on Saturday on FOX.
