The Texas Tech men’s basketball team received a trio of special performances courtesy of Keenan Evans, Niem Stevenson and Zach Smith to overcame an 11-point early in the second half, but the Red Raiders were handed an 80-79 defeat by No. 3 Kansas in-front of a season’s best 13,806 fans on Saturday at the United Supermarkets Arena.

The win enabled the Jayhawks (22-3, 10-2 Big 12) to protect their one-game lead atop the Big 12 standings, while the Red Raiders (16-9, 4-8 Big 12) had their four-game home winning streak versus ranked opponents come to a close and were dealt their second straight loss by one point during the closing seconds.

“I thought in the second half, we competed,” Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. “In this game, we probably outplayed them 28 to 30 minutes out of the 40, but that doesn’t matter. It’s all about the final scoreboard. I like our guys before tonight, and I still like them. We are getting better. There is no question that we were a better team than we were a couple weeks ago when Oklahoma State hammered us at home. Just in this league, it is so brutal. We are possibly playing the number one pick in the NBA draft, three or four NBA players and a Hall of Fame coach on a night where they were making shots, so it’s difficult.”

Keenan Evans pumped in a Big 12 career-high 25 points on 8-of-12 from the floor sparked by four treys to push his streak to 13 straight games in double figures. He has collected 20-plus points in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. He also tallied four rebounds and two assists.

Niem Stevenson exploded for career-bests with 22 points and 10 rebounds. He amassed 14 of the 22 points and grabbed seven of his 10 rebounds during the second half. Stevenson has strung together double figures in four of his last five outings.

Zach Smith made it consecutive double-doubles with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Like Stevenson, he did his damage in the second 20 minutes with 15 of his 21 points and six of his 10 rebounds. The 21 points was the second-highest scoring output for Smith during a Big 12 contest.

Justin Gray registered nine points, six rebounds and a career-high four steals. He knocked down three of his four field goal attempts.

Anthony Livingston and Aaron Ross, who averaged a combined 21.7 points per game entering Saturday’s contest, were limited to a combined two points and misfired on seven of their eight shot attempts. 

Texas Tech produced a 29-of-60 shooting performance and hit on 6-of-20 from three-point territory. The Red Raiders were 15-of-21 on free throws and sank 11 of their 13 attempts at the line in the second half. Texas Tech also battled its way to a 38-32 rebounding advantage which included 14 offensive boards.

Kansas countered going 29-for-60 from the field, 10-for-25 on three-pointers and 12-for-19 at the charity stripe. The Jayhawks were held to a 30-28 edge in paint points.

Josh Jackson poured in a career-high 31 points and tacked on 11 rebounds. He was an effective and efficient 12-of-15 shooting and dished out four assists. Landen Lucas secured 13 points and five rebounds. Frank Mason III, the Big 12’s leading scorer, notched a Big 12 season-low 12 points whereas Devonte’ Graham also managed a Big 12 season-low six points but handed out six assists. 

All square at 79-79 with 5.4 seconds remaining, Kansas ran an isolation play for Jackson at the top of the key out of a timeout. He was freed by a Lucas screen, drove to the basket and was fouled by Smith with 2.8 seconds on the clock.

Jackson missed the first free throw but collected himself to convert on the second attempt. Texas Tech got the ball to Evans on the run but his 30-foot three-point attempt fell short as time expired. 

Down 55-45 at the 14:23 mark, the Red Raiders ripped off 20 of the next 26 points over the next 5:13 off the clock. Smith kickstarted the flurry by going strong to the basket for a two-handed jam. Then, Smith connected with a cutting Gray for a layup to make it 55-49 with 12:20 left.

Following two Jackson free throws, Evans rattled home a triple on the right wing coupled with a Stevenson layup off his own miss to bring the game within one possession at 57-54 with 10:41 to go.

The Red Raiders drew even at 59-59 by turning defense into offense with 9:36 on the clock. A Gray steal and outlet pass to Stevenson resulted in a one-handed dunk.

Texas Tech surged ahead by a 65-61 margin at the 7:54 mark after a Stevenson layup and two free throws.  However, the Jayhawks responded with a Mason three-ball and a Lagerald Vick dunk. The two teams would trade three ties and seven lead changes inside the closing 6:12 of the contest.

The Red Raiders used a hustle play from Stevenson off a Gray missed free throw. The ball was tapped back out to Gray who was fouled. He calmly drained two free throws to vault Texas Tech up 77-75 with 2:17 remaining.

Kansas answered with a Jackson dunk and layup to regain a two-point edge of its own. Smith knotted the score at 79-79 on midrange jumper from the right elbow with 1:15 left.

“I thought Niem (Stevenson) played well,” Beard said. “He is a talented player. Offensively, he is very aggressive. He can shoot the ball better than he shot tonight, but he certainly a guy that we are counting on for the rest of the season, and certainly next year as we try to take the program to the next level with each season. When junior college transfers come in, there is always kind of a transitional period. Niem has remained unselfish, and he has worked really hard. He played for two great coaches at Seward in Kansas. I thought he played well tonight, and more importantly I think he is playing great basketball in the last couple of weeks.”

Texas Tech led by as many as three points at 12-9 during the opening six minutes. Livingston found Evans and Stevenson for layups in a three-possession span.

The Jayhawks utilized the three-pointer and hit on six triples to turn the momentum into their favor. Kansas went up by as much as 12 at 34-22 with 4:23 to go and claimed a 42-35 lead at halftime.  

“Coach Self had some nice words to say when we shook hands,” Beard said. “When he talks, I listen. He just said that our guys scrapped and fought. The first thing you look for on that is the rebounding because normally if the team is hustling and fighting when you are undermanned like we were. You just got to fight on the boards. I thought that was an indicator of how hard we fought tonight. We played hard and well enough to win tonight. It just didn’t go our way. We just have to stay the course. Hopefully in the near future, I can sit here and talk to you fine people where we were just one point different.”

Texas Tech welcomes another marquee opponent in No. 6 Baylor to the United Supermarkets Arena on Monday. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised by ESPNU along with being available on the Watch ESPN app.

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)