Texas Longhorns vs Texas Tech Red Raiders Match Player Stats On Feb 27, 2021

Defense wasn't prominent in the first half when 14th-ranked Texas tangled with No. 18 Texas Tech Saturday in Lubbock in another matchup of ranked Big 12 Conference teams.

That changed for the Red Raiders in the second half and the Longhorns weren't able to answer quickly enough in a 68-59 loss.

Mac McClung led Texas Tech with 16 points and Terrence Shannon Jr. added 11. The Red Raiders survived a final UT rally by hitting 6-of-8 from the free-throw line in the closing 59 seconds.

Texas got 11 points from Jericho Sims and 10 from Matt Coleman III, but 5-for-25 shooting from the floor after halftime proved to be the Longhorns' undoing.

The Red Raiders finished 11-of-25 from the field in each half to shoot 44%, with McClung scoring 11 after halftime to spur the offense. In the final 20 minutes, Texas Tech scored 20 points in the paint against the bigger Longhorns.

Texas Tech tightened its defense like a vice grip coming out of halftime to fuel a 19-6 run that the Longhorns never recovered from after falling behind 52-39.

Texas (14-7, 8-6 Big 12) missed its first 11 field-goal attempts of the second half, six from 3-point territory. That allowed the Red Raiders (15-8, 7-7) to snap a three-game conference losing skid and notch just their second season sweep of the Longhorns since 1996.

A burst helped Texas claw back as close as 57-51 with 5 1/2 minutes to go and the deficit shrank to 59-56 on Andrew Jones' 3-pointer with 3:22 to go.

The game was all even at halftime, 33-33 after Coleman buried a 3-pointer right before the horn sounded. The Longhorns shot 50 percent (12 of 24) from the field and 5-of-10 from deep in the first 20 minutes.

It was Texas Tech that struggled to click with the ball much of the initial 20 minutes. But an 11-4 run, culminating with a McClung 3-pointer, boosted the Red Raiders in front for the first time, 25-24 at the 4:43 juncture.

--Field Level Media