Texas Tech beats Minnesota 81-68 in Puerto Rico Tipoff

NO. 11 VILLANOVA 86, ETSU 51: Daniel Ochefu posted his third straight double double with 12 points and 16 rebounds, and the Wildcats (3-0) played stifling defense in a preliminary round of the NIT Season Tipoff in Radnor, Pa. Villanova blew the game open with a 24-0 run over a span of 8:26 in the first half, helped by nine Buccaneers turnovers.

“That is a real step for him because he made a few important passes at the right time”, Holtmann said.

Although I continue to believe Butler will ultimately take home a “W” against the Hurricanes, it’s not going to come easily by any means.

Eventually, the Utes heated up, making four of their final six attempts from deep for a 39-30 lead into halftime.

“This place”, Mihalich said, “is nearly too nice”.

The win came on the heels of the Red Raiders ending their 18-game neutral/road losing streak with a losers-bracket win over Mississippi State. The Bulldogs’ Gavin Ware got the offensive rebound but unlike Smith, he was unable to score on the put-back.

Finally Smith, Texas Tech’s 6-foot-8 sophomore from Plano, Texas grabbed the rebound sealing a game that Texas Tech nearly let slip away.

Camyn Boone scored 17 points to lead Missouri State, which had a rough opening day in San Juan with a 93-59 loss Thursday to No. 23 Butler.

Despite only trailing 36-33 at the half against #16 Utah, Texas Tech fell in their first game of the tournament 73-63.

Dunham had struggled mightily with his shot in a win Friday against Temple, including a 2-for-13 effort from 3-point range in that one.

Thomas led Rider (0-3) with 14 points.

Hield scored 13 points in the first 4:45 of the second half before sitting the rest of the game. “Our kids showed a lot of toughness tonight, a lot of intestinal fortitude”.

Newman finished with 17 points to lead Mississippi State, but the touted rookie made just 6 of 17 shots.

This from a guy who started the year 3 for 18 through the first two games, and the numbers hadn’t gotten dramatically better through the first two games in San Juan. However, the big man from Ft. Worth pulled down 10 rebounds and provided Texas Tech with a strong presence in the paint all night. “We saw Lewis’ previous game”, Dunphy said.

Both teams were terrible from beyond the 3-point line.

But with the recent state of the Texas Tech basketball program, any win is handsome in the win column even if not aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Tubby Smith is now 1-0 against his old team.

Butler has reached the championship game of eight in-season tournaments since 2001 and is 5-3.

“It’s sort of like… when I played against my sons in the backyard or playing against relatives or close friends”, Smith said. We will begin to find out Saturday.

What will be more interesting for Texas Tech fans to see will be if Friday’s victory against a quality SEC opponent will be a building block for a successful non-conference season.