Red Raiders come full circle to stun Duke

Saturday night at a sold-out Madison Square Garden, the No. 19 Texas Tech Red Raiders gathered together beat No. 3 Duke 82-81, picking up the program’s first win over the Blue Devils after dropping their first two games. Trailing by 17 early in the second half, the Red Raiders came from behind thanks to Christian Anderson, who scored 23 of his game-high 27 points in the final 20 minutes, including the game-winning free throw with 3.4 seconds left.

Texas Tech (9-3) jumped out to a 9-0 lead, forcing a Duke timeout with just over two minutes to play. Duke responded with Nicholas Khamenya hitting a 3-pointer from the corner and a quick layup, and Dame Sarr’s 3-pointer put the Blue Devils up 13-10 midway through the first half. Darren Harris hit a contested 3-pointer to give Duke its first lead at 19-18, and the Blue Devils gradually built a double-digit lead, going into halftime with a 46-36 lead. Cameron Boozer led Duke with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists at the break. Dame Sarr scored nine points, going 3-for-4 from three.

The Red Raiders turned the game around in the second half, as Anderson made four 3-pointers in the second half and made a four-point play at the 12:07 mark to cut the Blue Devils’ lead to 63-55. JT Toppin made a layup to give Texas Tech a 78-77 lead with less than two minutes left, before Anderson’s free throws sealed the win. Topin finished with his sixth double-double of the season, with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Although he fouled out with 11 minutes left, LeJuan Watts was strong with 20 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals. The Red Raiders also got contributions from Leon Horner (six points), Jaylen Petty (five points) and Nolan Groves, who provided a +13 impact in 13 minutes on defense. Texas Tech went 7-of-22 from three-point range, improving from 1-of-9 in the first half, and Anderson shot 5-of-9 from deep. The team shot 32 of 58 (.552) from the field, the first time an opponent has shot over 50 percent this season against the Blue Devils

Duke (11-1) got a career-high 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists from Cameron Boozer, while Caden Boozer had 13 points. Dame Sarr made a career-high three 3-pointers in the first half, and Malik Brown had seven points, five rebounds and five steals. Holding the Red Raiders to 83.6 points wasn’t enough for the Blue Devils as they fell behind 30-29 and had their nine-game winning streak at MSG snapped.

The win was Texas Tech’s 15th over a top-five opponent, its biggest comeback of the season and its biggest over Duke since 2007. The Red Raiders will return home after the holiday break to continue their non-conference schedule, hosting Winthrop on Dec. 28 before opening Big 12 play against Oklahoma State on Jan. 3.