By Jackson Posey | Sports Editor
No. 12 Texas Tech erupted for 14 first-half 3-pointers Tuesday night, blitzing past Baylor for a 92-73 win at Foster Pavilion.
Perimeter duo Christian Anderson and Donovan Atwell led the Red Raiders (15-4, 5-1 Big 12) with 47 points on 15-for-20 shooting from beyond the arc. The loss dropped the Bears to 11-7 overall and 1-5 against Big 12 opponents, marking the program’s worst start to conference play in over a decade.
“We’re going to keep fighting, we’re going to keep getting better,” head coach Scott Drew said. “I know at the end of the day, offensively, I think we have some limitations, but defensively we have to be really good, and we got to get that together.”
Baylor opened the game in a variation of a 1-3-1 zone, committing to ball pressure at the expense of leaving shooters open. Twice, the Bears over-rotated, giving Atwell (39.7% career 3-point shooter) ample time to fire away. His triples were split by a highlight-reel block from redshirt sophomore Cameron Carr, who made the long rotation from the post to swat away a Jaylen Petty 3-pointer.
“They started off in that zone, it was kind of like a sag-off zone, so it felt like they were rhythm shots,” Atwell said. “I got in a hot rhythm, and they let me shoot ‘em, so I just kept on shooting ‘em.”
Texas Tech only attempted two 2-pointers in the game’s first eight minutes, raining threes on a no-middle defense. Baylor was banking on a shooting regression — but it never came.
The Red Raiders shot 14-for-19 from beyond the arc in the first half alone, including a combined 13-for-16 from Atwell and Anderson. Senior Baylor wing Dan Skillings Jr. scratched out an 8-0 run to cut the lead to eight, but the dam didn’t last. Texas Tech made 10 of its final 11 shots to close the half, including a perfect 7-for-7 on 3-pointers, to hit the locker room with a 55-36 lead.
“I’ll be honest, we couldn’t go 14-for-19 with no one guarding us in a shootaround today,” Drew said. “That’s really elite. So, give them the credit for making the shots. Staff-wise, we got to do a better job contesting.”
The Bears shot well from the field (54.2%) and from three (42.9%) in the first half, but missed seven free throws and couldn’t keep up with the road team’s blistering pace.
“Props to Texas Tech, they’re a very good team,” Skillings said. “We have a lot to work on to get better at our close-outs and things like that, and the only thing we can do now is tomorrow get in the gym and work on what we need to work on, because we’ve got to win some games.”
Carr led the Bears in points (18), rebounds (9) and assists (5), his first time to reach all three of those marks in a single game. He’s posted at least 16 points in 17 of 18 games this season.
Baylor guarded the line more aggressively in the second half. The Red Raiders let off the gas, attempting half as many 3-pointers as in the opening frame, but still converted shots at a 50.0/37.5/88.9 rate.
“We just have to be quicker on our rotations,” senior center Caden Powell said. “We had a game plan of what we were going to do, [but] we were a little slow to come out.”
The Bears will return to action against TCU (12-7, 2-4 Big 12) on Saturday, when they’ll look for revenge after a conference-opening loss in Fort Worth. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. at Foster Pavilion. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
