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Kansas guard Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (10) tries to squeeze between Texas Tech guard Brandone Francis (1) and Texas Tech guard Jarrett Culver (23) during the second half, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018 at Allen Fieldhouse.
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Texas Tech coach Chris Beard was brutally honest during his postgame session with the media following Tuesday's 85-73 victory over 10th-ranked Kansas.
“In no way did I expect to beat Kansas on their home floor, but I did expect to play hard and play well,” Beard said. “I did have some confidence that we were going to do that. Win the game? No. Play well and give ourselves a chance to win? Yes, sir.”
The Red Raiders (12-1 overall, 2-0 Big 12) did exactly that from start to finish, leading for 39:31 minutes of Tuesday's delicious victory and never seeing KU crawl closer than six after an early bucket pushed Tech's advantage from 10-5 to 12-5.
Asked what advantages he used to exploit the Jayhawks in this one, Beard again hit hard with the truth.
“I don't know if we have an edge on Kansas in anything,” he said. “Maybe, we have Whataburger in Lubbock, Texas, and I don't think you guys do. Maybe that's an advantage.”
View a gallery of images from Tuesday's game between the Jayhawks and Red Raiders at Allen Fieldhouse.
One big plus for the visitors on Tuesday night was their ability to slow down KU's 3-point shooting. Four nights after seeing Kansas hit 17 of 32 3-pointers in a road win at Texas, the Red Raiders limited Kansas to 6-of-26 shooting from 3-point range, for 23 percent.
“It's impossible to stop 'em, you just try to contain 'em and then you try to contest shots,” Beard said. “The way they shot the other night in Austin, they're not going to get beat. They'll play on the final Monday.”
Azubuike's back
After a couple of days of rest, sophomore center Udoka Azubuike played 28 minutes and finished with 11 points and seven rebounds in KU's loss to Texas Tech.
Most of it was pretty insignificant.
Azubuike said after the game that his back was “better” and Self agreed.
“I didn't talk to him after the game,” Self said. “He probably wasn't 100 percent, but he wasn't far off so I don't think health was a big issue.”
Added senior point guard Devonte' Graham: “He's been doing treatment and doing a little bit better and we don't want to use no excuses, back, foot, ankle, face, whatever it is.”
Senior strength
Texas Tech went with five seniors in the starting lineup on Tuesday night, making the Red Raiders one of just two teams in the country to start five seniors in a game this season, along with Mercer.
Drake, Idaho and Purdue all have started four seniors in their starting five this season and Kansas, of course, starts two in Devonte' Graham and Svi Mykhailiuk.
“I would say that obviously helped,” KU coach Bill Self said. “But I also looked out there and there were two freshmen out there wearing us out just as much.”
Mahomes in the house
Two days after leading the Kansas City Chiefs to a three-point win in Denver, K.C. quarterback Patrick Mahomes II was in Allen Fieldhouse cheering on his alma mater.
Mahomes, who starred at Texas Tech from 2014-16, sat a few rows behind the Kansas bench wearing a black T-Shirt and left the building just before the final horn sounded.
This and that...
KU falls to 1-1 in Big 12 play for the first time since the 2005-06 season... The Jayhawks now lead the all-time series with Texas Tech, 33-5, including a 17-1 mark in games played in Lawrence... Kansas now has lost two games at Allen Fieldhouse in a single season for the first time since the 2006-07 season and the third time in the Bill Self era.
Comments
Henry Joseph Hofmeister 3 years, 3 months ago
I think they bullied the post expecting dok's back, kept all of the rebounds, then just shut down graham on 3's. perfect coaching on their part.
Larry Knzas 3 years, 3 months ago
Mahomes was congratulating Evans on the court after the final buzzer.
Armen Kurdian 3 years, 3 months ago
He didn't expect to win? What kind of a comment is that? Maybe it's true but why in the world would you verbalize it?
Roger Ortega 3 years, 3 months ago
The only reason he would/could say it was because they won. Had they lost he wouldn't have said that.
Craig Alexander 3 years, 3 months ago
Watching the game in person last night was frustrating to say the least. There were so many times where Tech crashed the boards on our shots and we had one guy fighting for a rebound. We started to put something together when the guards were driving the lane but that should have been the game plan from the beginning of the 2nd half to slow things down and get back into it. We had some open threes that didn't fall and taking care of the ball last night was ridiculous. Hawks have work to do if they are going to win their 14th conference championship. We need to sweep Texas, ISU, KSU, and Baylor while at least splitting with the rest. We need Sousa and Preston now...
Roger Ortega 3 years, 3 months ago
I couldn't believe the amount of turnovers Graham had last night. Add that in to the lack of rebounds and it's easy to see why they scored more. I thought our defense was pretty decent. Not great but decent. If we hold on to the ball a few more times and get a few more rebounds it's a much closer game. We could never get the crowd into it which is a huge advantage in our league. They punched us in the mouth early and we never recovered. I knew we would respond after half time but I also knew the outcome would really be about how TTU responded to our response (got that? lol). They stifled every comeback and a few untimely TV time outs also slowed our momentum. Either way we live, we learn. I think what we pick up from this game is that we need to drive more. We do that and we get to the line and it opens up more three's. Not to mention more Dok dunks. I don't want to be TCU this Saturday. ROCK CHALK
Craig Carson 3 years, 3 months ago
people said that about ASU after the UW loss..people assumed KU wold come out more focused and take care of business...well, they did for about 4 minutes then got outplayed and lost in AFH..now they go to TCU...i get the feeling they wont be afraid..this KU team doesnt have a lot of muscle to flex
Craig Carson 3 years, 3 months ago
all I can say is :UW, ASU, Texas Tech and every other Big 12 team that beats KU this season, SAVOR THE FLAVOR because next season the thin frontcourt, terrible rebounding and shooting 30 3's a night to win will be a thing of the past and the Hawks will get back to dominating like they always have
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