LUBBOCK, Texas — Jahmi’us Ramsey is back, and a finally healthy Texas Tech team clicked in the second half en route to a 68-58 win over UTRGV Saturday afternoon.
Texas Tech’s leading scorer took the court after missing the previous four games with a hamstring injury, and he announced his return with a bang. He rose up to catch and dunk an alley-oop from Kyler Edwards early in the game, the first two of his 15 points.
Ramsey wasn’t able to get much going after that in the first, going scoreless for the remainder of the half before heating up and scoring 13 second half points.
Ramsey was just one cog in a sluggish start for the Red Raiders. Texas Tech has started slow in several early games this season, and Saturday was no exception. TTU fell behind 22-14 in the first half, as the Vaqueros pulled the trigger on quick jumpers and made several of them.
On offense Texas Tech was sloppy with the ball, committing 12 first half turnovers. The Red Raiders botched transition opportunities, threw careless passes and didn’t look in sync as a team throughout the half.
In the second half, the Red Raiders crept ahead. Without any big scoring runs, they built a 12-point lead by playing solid defense and drawing fouls, getting UTRGV into the bonus early in the half.
Texas Tech steadied itself on the defensive end as well, closing out on shooters, forcing drives and drawing charges.
Saturday’s game was a balanced scoring effort for Texas Tech. Seven of the team’s eight primary rotation players scored more than five points, and Ramsey led the team with his 15.
Texas Tech came out with a win Saturday, but the Red Raiders will have to play entire games like Saturday’s second half to contend for the Big 12 title.
The Red Raiders have a final non-conference season game before Big 12 play. They take on CSU Bakersfield next Sunday at 3 p.m.
