NEW YORK (AP) — Every number on the scoreboard and every line on the stat sheet suggested No. 19 Texas Tech was in serious trouble.
LeJuan Watts had fouled out, JT Toppin was one buzzer away, and the Red Raiders were trying to claw their way out of a 17-point deficit against undefeated Duke, the No. 3 team in the nation.
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But these obstacles don’t faze Christian Anderson and his determined teammates.
Anderson scored 23 of his 27 points in the second half, including a free throw with 3.4 seconds left, and Texas Tech earned an impressive 82-81 victory in front of a packed house at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
“We were very competitive. All we wanted to do at that moment was win,” said Anderson, who played the full 40 minutes. “We had some guys fouled. We had some substitution issues because we had so many fouls and the bench was short, but we fought well enough to win the game.”
The win was Texas Tech’s first over a top-five opponent since a 65-62 victory over No. 1 Baylor in January 2022. It also snapped a six-game losing streak against ranked teams that included close losses to Illinois and Arkansas this season and a 30-point loss to Purdue.
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Toppin finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds. After a slow start, Anderson scored 13 points in the final 6 1/2 minutes.
“I was a little slow at the beginning and didn’t quite get used to the game. But credit to JT, my other coaches, they kept pushing me to be aggressive if we wanted to win this game,” Anderson said.
Before he could complete the comeback, the Red Raiders (9-3) looked set to have another frustrating night against a Top 25 opponent.
Texas Tech scored the first nine points of the game but trailed by 10 at halftime. The Red Raiders trailed by 17 points early in the second half, trailed by 12 with 12:30 left and trailed by 11 with less than 6.5 minutes left.
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Watts scored 20 points in 27 minutes, but he fouled out while trying to guard Duke star Cameron Boozer with 11:33 left, two minutes after Toppin picked up his fourth foul. Leon Horner also fouled out late in the second half.
“Just found a way to overcome the odds and win,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said.
Duke (11-1) led 58-41 with 16 1/2 minutes remaining, blowing a 17-point lead to Florida State for the first time since February 2007.
The first sign that Texas Tech might rebound came when the Blue Devils took a 63-51 lead on Maliq Brown’s 3-pointer with 13:12 left.
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The Red Raiders responded with 10 straight points, and Anderson’s basket tied the score to two about three minutes later.
But the Blue Devils responded, extending the lead back to 11 points on Boozer’s basket with 6:29 left. Anderson then took over the game and hit three three-pointers in 3 minutes and 04 seconds to narrow the point difference to 76-74.
After Anderson’s outside performance, Toppin made consecutive jumpers, including a baseline shot, giving the Red Raiders a 78-77 lead with 1:35 left in the game.
“We kept fighting,” Toppin said. “Coach kept saying we were going to win the game by 17 points, so just keep believing and keep playing together and that’s what it was.”
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