Texas Tech gets the chance to erase the sour taste of another tough loss quickly with a home game against Northern Colorado on Tuesday.
The 19th-ranked Red Raiders (7-3) absorbed their third loss of the season — all to ranked foes — against Arkansas on Saturday in a shootout that slipped away in the second half.
Getting back on track against the Bears (9-1) would be helpful because Texas Tech’s week concludes with a marquee matchup against No. 3 Duke on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
High on the Red Raiders’ to-do list for Tuesday: compete hard.
Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland viewed it as a shortcoming in the recent loss after the 17th-ranked Razorbacks prevailed 93-86 by outscoring his crew 50-37 in the final 20 minutes.
“I thought they were more competitive than we were late in the game and I thought I mismanaged the last 10 minutes,” McCasland said. “I didn’t do a good enough job with our rotations and defensively. We missed some opportunities to really be competitive that I think will allow us to be great. They’re a great team and I think they were more connected than we were late. They scored at a really high rate and we didn’t do a good enough job to make it difficult for them. We’ll get better from it.”
Which might be necessary against Northern Colorado, which is off to the best start in program history.
The Bears generate 87.4 points a game and, similar to the Red Raiders, rely heavily on the 3-point shot. Northern Colorado is hitting at a 37.9% clip from beyond the arc and sink 11.1 3-pointers per game, which is slightly more than Texas Tech (a Big 12 -best 10.9 per game). Three Bears have connected on at least 18 treys, with Zach Bloch setting the pace with 36-of-67 shooting.
Quinn Denker leads the Bears with 17.3 points and 6.1 assists per game, while Brock Wisne supplies 14.3 points and a team-best 6.3 rebounds per outing.
Northern Colorado owns a 4-0 record on the road, which includes wins at Pepperdine, Portland and Air Force. The Red Raiders have been tough-as-nails at home in nonconference play under McCasland (21-0) and have reeled off 44 nonconference wins in a row in Lubbock.
Keeping that streak intact will likely hinge on whether Texas Tech’s two star players can help their team bounce back.
Preseason All-American J.T. Toppin delivered a huge game against Arkansas with 30 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks — his sixth double-double of the season — while Christian Anderson produced 26 points and a career-high-tying 11 assists.
That tandem will need more consistent help against the Bears. Toppin and Anderson combined to knock down 24 of 39 shots against Arkansas while the rest of the team was 11-for-30.
It was struggles on defense that proved costly in the loss Saturday, especially in the closing 6 1/2 minutes. Arkansas trailed 68-63 with just under 10 minutes to play, but heated up to hit 10 of 16 field goals the rest of the game.
In addition to clicking most of the second half offensively, the Razorbacks controlled the backboards, 25-16, after halftime.
“I felt like every momentum play in that last 10 minutes was all theirs,” McCasland said. “We made some good plays offensively; I just don’t know about defensively that I thought would impact the game in our favor. It’s imposing your will defensively and we did not do that.”
