No. 2 Baylor remains undefeated, holds off No. 15 Texas Tech

LUBBOCK, Texas — Sometimes basketball is a simple game.

And it's made a lot easier when the basketball goes into the basket throughout a 40-minute contest.

On Saturday, No. 15 Texas Tech and No. 2 Baylor had their fair share of troubles on the offensive end which made each and every possession more crucial in a Big 12 Conference game.

And, despite a late charge by the Red Raiders, which included 24 total points by Mac McClung, Jared Butler showed why he was selected as a preseason AP All-American by scoring all seven of his points during a key second-half run to help the Bears claim a 68-60 victory inside United Supermarkets Arena.

"We were just trying to play team defense and just execute the gameplan," Kevin McCullar, who finished with a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and two steals), said of holding Butler scoreless for 35 minutes until he scored seven points in the second stanza. "He's a good player, and we were trying to play team defense to keep him from getting going."

With the loss, Texas Tech (11-4, 4-3) had a three-game winning streak snapped at the hands of Baylor (12-0, 5-0). Davion Mitchell led the Bears with 19 points and five rebounds, Adam Flagler tallied 15 points, including three 3-pointers, and Macio Teague added 12 points and four rebounds.

"The takeaway is that we can still get better even though, us as a team, we know we didn't play our best. But we still had a close with them (Baylor)," Texas Tech senior Marcus Santos-Silva, who finished with six points and seven rebounds, said.

After McCullar drained a pair of free throws to make it a two-possession game, at 61-55, the Red Raiders forced a jump ball to gain possession with 1:47 left in the second half.

Terrence Shannon, Jr., who caused the opportunity, was called for a charge on the next possession and allowed Baylor's Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua to split a pair of free throws to put the Bears up 62-55 which was enough to hold off the Red Raiders.

Shannon tallied two points in the loss, snapping a four-game streak in which he finished with double figures and notched his first single-digit performance in Big 12 play.

Prior to that, Texas Tech made a comeback and even took the lead to make the second half a nailbiter.

"To beat a team like Baylor, you've gotta play well," Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. "That means your offense and defense both have to hold their own. I thought the first half our defense kept us in the game — was really good, outstanding, championship defense. Our offense? We just couldn't get anything cranking. 

"Second half, our offense responded — had a 40-point half against Baylor. Very difficult to do. But our defense just wasn't there when we needed it most — in the last eight minutes of the game. ... You're not going to take everything away from Baylor, but certainly when we had a chance down the stretch — when it was seven-and-a-half minutes left, tie game — we really didn't want to give up 3s. And that's exactly what we did."

After shooting 27% in the first half, which included making 11 turnovers and not recording a free throw, the Red Raiders turned things around thanks to a renewed energy on the defensive end and hustle plays trailing 26-18.

"Ball movement was definitely going well," Santos-Silva said of what was working in the second half along with the renewed energy on defense. "The turnovers at the end. The last eight minutes, I think we turned it over, we had three straight turnovers. ... We had the moment, but just at the end we had too many turnovers and missed finishes and messed up on the personnel — especially me."

The result saw Texas Tech forge a 4-0 run, which started with Mac McClung draining a jumper and Shannon recording the game-tying layup while drawing the foul at the 14:46 mark of the second half.

Shannon, who did not have a field goal or free-throw in the first half, was unable to convert the three-point play as the squads were knotted at 34-34.

The game would be tied at 40, 42 and 44 before the Bears engineered a 17-7 run to increase their advantage to a game-best 10 points (61-51) just under the three-minute mark of the contest.

Baylor was able to fend off a late Red Raiders' charge en route to keep its record untarnished.

"I think the effort was there, the grit was there — we played with a lot of toughness," Beard said. "I think we can play with teams like this. I think we can beat teams like this. But we have to play well in the 40-minute game to get that done."