Shadell Millinghaus poured in a team-leading 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lift the Texas Tech men’s basketball team to a 90-71 win over Eastern Kentucky during the Cancun Challenge Regional Round on Saturday at the United Supermarkets Arena.
For Millinghaus, he was a spotless 7-for-7 from the floor and 6-for-8 at the free throw line. The 20 points are the second-highest scoring output for a Texas Tech player this season only behind Keenan Evans’ 28 points versus Houston Baptist on opening night.
Texas Tech (3-0) has won its first three games by an average of 24 points per contest. It marked the program’s first 3-0 start since 2012-13. The Red Raiders also extended their nonconference home winning streak to 22 consecutive games sparked by nine straight wins by double figures.
Eastern Kentucky (1-3) opened up a 15-point lead at 27-12 and drained seven three-pointers during the game’s opening seven minutes.
“Obviously, a disappointing start but give Eastern Kentucky credit,” Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. “They came out, and they hit shots. From a coaching standpoint, it’s just a little disappointing. I thought they had more energy than we did. We told the guys all week you have to manufacture your own energy. It’s a tough time, early game. Football season is still going on, and you can’t rely on the crowd to produce the energy so that was disappointing. But I thought, equally, it was a nice job of responding. I didn’t think there was much panic going on. We were having some man-to-man conversations in the huddles to say the least, but I’m coaching some grown men. Six seniors and six juniors so I thought they did a good job of weathering the storm. Again, I give Shotty (Shadell Millinghaus) a lot of credit. I think that was an example of just an individual player willing his team to stay in the game early.”
Aaron Ross dialed up 16 points highlighted by a perfect 10-of-10 clip from the foul line. He also dished out a career-high tying three assists and is the only Red Raider to reach double figures in all three games this season.
Justin Gray garnered 11 of his 17 points off the bench in the second half. He turned in a 7-of-11 shooting performance and also tacked on six rebounds along with three blocks over his 33 minutes of action.
Anthony Livingston came away with 11 points and six rebounds whereas Evans secured all 10 of his points during the second 20 minutes.
The Red Raiders also received solid bench efforts courtesy of Devon Thomas and Giovanni McLean. Thomas distributed a career-best five assists coupled with a career-high tying five rebounds and three steals. McLean buried a pair of three-pointers in the first half.
Texas Tech connected on 29-of-49 from the field and sank an efficient 7-of-11 on its three-pointers. The Red Raiders knocked down 25-of-30 at the free throw line highlighted by 14 of their 16 attempts during the second half.
Texas Tech dominated the interior and racked up 36 of the game’s 50 points in the paint. Through three games, the Red Raiders hold a healthy 104-48 advantage in paint points.
Eastern Kentucky shot 21-for-57 overall and made the most of its 12-for-25 performance on treys. The Colonels converted on 17-for-19 from the foul line.
EKU’s quartet of Jaylen Babb-Harrison, Zach Charles, Asante Gist and Nick Mayo combined for 61 of the team’s 71 points. Gist led the group with 21 points aided by five triples. The Red Raiders made Mayo, the reigning Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, work for his 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting.
The Colonels raced out to a 27-12 edge with 12:57 left in the first half ignited by a trio of three-pointers apiece by Gist and Babb-Harrison.
Texas Tech found its bearings and ripped 15 consecutive points of its own over the next 4:55 to knot the score at 27-27 at the 8:02 mark. The Red Raiders attacked the basket and chipped away with 10 of the 15 points at the charity stripe. Ross capped the run with a three-ball at the top of the key, and Millinghaus took his defender off the dribble for a layup.
The two teams traded blows before Texas Tech seized the momentum with a 10-3 spurt over the closing 2:07 of the stanza. Ross and McLean gave the Red Raiders their first lead with treys on back-to-back possessions at 42-38 with 1:17 to go. Gray contributed two layups during the closing 40 seconds to vault Texas Tech a 46-41 lead heading into the locker room.
The Red Raiders stretched their advantage to 51-43 with 18:35 remaining in the second half on a Gray midrange jumper. Eastern Kentucky wouldn’t go away and pieced together 12 of the next 16 points to draw even at 55-55 at the 13:22 mark.
Texas Tech found a 20-3 flurry over a 6:22 span to turn a 57-57 deadlock into a comfortable 77-60 lead with 6:24 on the clock.
Evans started the charge with an 8-foot floater off a drive. The Red Raiders added their next 12 points at the foul line. Then, Evans found a cutting Gray for a left-handed layup to make it 73-60 with 7:08 to go. Millinghaus put the finishing touches on the run and drove baseline for a layup. He stole the ensuing inbounds play for another layup to extend the score to 77-60.
“I’m a lot of things, but I don’t get nervous,” Beard said. “I get concerned, and I expect the unexpected. I’ve always thought my job as a coach simply stated in like one sentence is to do everything I can for our team to have a chance to win. The first thing I do is I look in the mirror. Is there anything I could’ve done different to get this guys off to a better start? But no, not nervous. I’ve got a veteran team here. We have a lot of confidence. We practice hard every day, and we have an unselfish culture. But certainly, it’s just something we’re going to have to overcome. Against North Texas, we didn’t play great offensively. Our defense won the game for us. Tonight, defensively, we didn’t guard the three-point line very well. Our offense wins this game for us with 60 percent shooting, 10 turnovers, 5 people in double figures and scoring 90 points. With each game, there’s a different way to win so that gives me a lot of confidence that we’ve already seen in this early season that we have the opportunity and ability to play and win in different ways.”
Texas Tech hits the road for the first time during the 2016-17 and faces undefeated Auburn on Tuesday at the Cancun Challenge in Mexico. Tipoff is slated for 5 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised by CBS Sports Network.
Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the men’s basketball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/TexasTechMBB and @TexasTechMBB on Twitter and Instagram.
(Courtesy: Texas Tech Sports Information Department)
