Jaylen Petty scored 24 points to lead five Texas Tech players in double figures as the fifth-seeded Red Raiders pulled away late for a convincing 91-71 win over No. 12 seed Akron in the first round of Midwest Region play Friday in Tampa.
Petty made 9 of 14 shots, helming a sensational shooting performance which saw Texas Tech (23-10) make a season-best 64.2% of its shots to snap a three-game skid and win its NCAA Tournament opener for the sixth time in its last seven appearances.
He also made 5 of 7 3-pointers to lead the Red Raiders’ 55% performance (11 of 20) from outside the arc. Christian Anderson added 18 points, Josiah Moseley (4.6-point season average) made 7 of 8 shots for a career-high 16, Donovan Atwell contributed 15 and LeJuan Watts scored 14 before fouling out.
“Everyone knew they had to step up in every way because (injured All-American forward JT Toppin) did a lot for this team,” Moseley said. “Not having him, we miss an area. Everybody has to step up and push each other harder.”
Texas Tech moves on to meet fourth-seeded Alabama on Sunday. The Crimson Tide downed 13th-seeded Hofstra 90-70 on Friday.
Amani Lyles (26 points) and Shammah Scott (20) were the only two players in double figures for Akron (29-6), which had a 10-game winning streak snapped and fell to 0-8 in NCAA Tournament games.
The Zips shot 43.1% from the floor, but all players except those two were 9-of-31 (29%).
“Collectively, individually, all of us needed to be a little bit better,” Akron coach John Groce said. “We did some good things for sure. But the margin for error is small.”
After building an early lead, it appeared the Red Raiders were going to separate when they went on an 8-0 run to open a 37-25 lead with 3:58 left before halftime. But the Zips closed the half on a 10-3 run to cut the deficit to 40-35 at the break.
Petty led the way for the Red Raiders with 10 points, and Atwell chipped in nine on 3-of-4 shooting from outside the arc. Lyles and Scott combined for 25 of Akron’s first-half points.
Texas Tech restored its double-digit lead when Petty and Atwell opened the second half with consecutive 3s. However, the Zips still didn’t allow the Red Raiders to pull away.
Lyles scored six straight Akron points and Evan Mahaffey followed with five straight to trim the Texas Tech advantage to 66-62 with 7:57 left.
That was when the Red Raiders finally ran away with it, scoring 14 of the next 16 points to push ahead 80-64 with 4:12 left.
“Everyone kept saying (Akron is) an unbelievable second-half team, unbelievable second-half team,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “I thought our ability to score early in the second half by playing through LeJuan on some cross matches was the difference in us separating during the stretch and getting cushion when you know they’re going to make a run.”
The Zips managed just seven points over the final 6:53, while Texas Tech poured in 22 over that same span.
–Field Level Media
