Texas Tech Men’s Basketball Falls to Arkansas in Overtime

The Texas Tech men’s basketball team was handed a 75-68 overtime loss by Arkansas as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge Saturday at Bud Walton Arena.

Behind Zach Smith and his 19 points the Red Raiders (12-8) clawed it's way back from an 11-point deficit midway through the second half getting up to a 4-point lead before allowing Arkansas (11-10) to force overtime.

The Razorbacks closed the overtime session with 11 of the final 15 points to tuck away the seven-point decision and snap Tech’s nine-game nonconference winning streak.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith said. “We had our chances, but we didn’t execute. We didn’t get the stops we needed. Mike Anderson, his staff, and his team did a great job. They made the plays that they had to make to get the win.”

Tech's MVP was Zach Smith. He was 8-of-12 from the floor and buried eight of his nine attempts from inside the three-point arc. He added five rebounds, three blocks and a steal over his career-best 42 minutes of action. Smith has amassed a career-high point total in two of his last three appearances.

Aaron Ross and Keenan Evans both produced big games in the overtime loss.

Former Red Raider Dusty Hannahs poured in 21 points in the first half to make the game swing into the Razorbacks' favor. He didn't add much in the second half, but the damage had already been done.

At the end of regulation, Texas Tech had an opportunity to win the game as Devaugntah Williams drove the baseline and went under the basket. However, he was unable to knock down the reverse layup in traffic as the buzzer sounded.

The two teams exchanged the first eight points of overtime, but Arkansas surged ahead on a Bell trey followed by a Kingsley dunk off a missed jumper. The Razorbacks put together an 11-4 spurt over the final 2:36 of the extra session.

Tubby Smith was frustrated after the game.

"I want them to do what we tell them to do, like pick the ball up and don’t try to dribble it," Smith said. "Like box out and rebound. Like guard the three. Like they have been taught. That’s what I want them to do. We had to switch to a zone defense out of desperation because we couldn’t guard the one-on-one. We couldn’t guard Dusty at all."

Texas Tech returns to Big 12 action and opens its February slate Wednesday with the first of two meetings versus Oklahoma State. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT from United Supermarkets Arena.

[Source: Texastech.com]