Men’s Basketball

Sometimes, it’s just not your day.

Texas Tech took a 1-0 lead into the tip-off of its game against Northwestern on Sunday after the officials gave the Wildcats a rare pregame technical foul for not having their starters in the scorebook. No. 20 NU’s troubles only ballooned from there.

In the championship game at the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Tip-Off, the Red Raiders (4-0) suffocated the Cats’ (3-2) offense and obliterated a turnover-prone NU squad 85-49.

The flat performance at Mohegan Sun Arena came despite a strong outing from senior guard Scottie Lindsey, who scored 20 points and drained a three-quarters court buzzer-beater as time expired in the first frame.

The Cats, who connected on just two field goals in the first eight minutes of the contest, were derailed by seven turnovers before the game’s second media timeout. Meanwhile, Texas Tech found success attacking the hoop as it leapt out to a 23-5 advantage.

Even after Lindsey’s miraculous prayer before the break, the Red Raiders still boasted a commanding 41-25 lead. Texas Tech continued to control the game after the break, using a 20-0 run to pump their lead all the way to 79-42.

NU’s defense was porous throughout the game, an area of concern that has emerged in the season’s early going. The Cats conceded 76.8 points per game in the first four games of the season, surrendering 92 points in a shootout loss to Creighton on Wednesday.

NU also found itself up against a stingy Red Raiders defense, which entered Sunday sixth in the nation in opponent scoring. The Cats did not handle it well, ultimately finishing with 17 giveaways, which repeatedly curbed their attempts to come back from the early hole they dug themselves.

Senior point guard Bryant McIntosh had a long day, turning the ball over five times and scoring 5 points on 1-for-8 shooting. He scored 21 points in a win over La Salle in the first round of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off on Saturday, but seemed to hit a wall in the second game of the weekend.

After entering the season with a top-25 ranking for the first time in program history, the Cats have stumbled out of the gate. And with a pair of Big Ten games looming at the start of December, the team’s window to improve before conference play is unusually short.

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