No. 6 Kansas and Texas Tech men's basketball defeated the Jayhawks 79-50 in a dominant victory Monday night at United Supermarket Arena.
In the process, the Jayhawks suffered their biggest loss since losing by 29 points to Tech in Lubbock in 2018-19.
As history repeats itself, a new one was made as Tech forward Darrion Williams scored a career-high 30 points. Williams also made history by becoming the first college basketball player in the last 25 seasons to record 30 points and 10 rebounds on 100 percent shooting, according to ESPN. According to Tech Athletics, Williams shot a perfect 12-12 from the floor and 4-4 on 3-pointers.
Asked in his post-match press conference if he had ever performed like this before, Williams replied:
“No. Nothing like this, but I'm by no means perfect. Coach (Tech head coach Grant McCasland) will be yelling at me tomorrow because I made a lot of mistakes defensively,” Williams joked. he said.
Additionally, Williams' 30 points on the scoring chart marked a career-high scoring night for the first-year Red Raider.
For McCasland, Williams' career milestones are less about the accomplishments themselves and more about who he is than the box score reveals.
“He's one of those players who brings energy and when he does, it's obvious,” McCasland said. “But I'll tell you what he did. When things went wrong, he took responsibility. And in life, when things don't go your way, you can't deflect. You know, you can feel ashamed and embarrassed, and he starts focusing on me every time something goes wrong and is like, “I got you a coach.” We'll fix it.'' And it's a beautiful picture. ”
According to Tech Athletics, Tech, which led throughout the game, started the game 3-3 from deep and went up 12-4 early with help from 3-point shooting.
The Red Raiders' scoring quickly cooled down as Kansas tied the score at 12 apiece and went scoreless for the next 4 minutes and 34 seconds.
But Tech continued to attack, outscoring the visitors 19-4 and establishing a 15-point advantage with just over five minutes left in the first half.
The Red Raiders got off to an efficient start from beyond the arc, going 8-for-12 from 3-point range, according to Tech Athletics, and Kansas' first shot from deep came 4:26 into the first half. That's what it means.
According to Tech Athletics, the Jayhawks continued to struggle shooting, shooting 9-for-26 from the floor and leading Tech to halftime 14-26.
Williams scored 12 points on perfect 5-for-5 shooting and was the only double-digit scorer of the game at halftime, according to Tech Athletics, with his team leading 37-28 at halftime. Ta.
Additionally, Kansas' 28 first-half points were tied for the second-fewest points in the first 20 minutes of a game this season, according to the Kansas Athletics page.
Kansas' leading scorer, guard Kevin McCuller Jr., missed the game with a knee injury.
The visiting team's second-leading scorer also struggled, with center Hunter Dickinson recording 2 wins and 12 losses, scoring five points, the lowest of the season. According to the Kansas Athletics page, Dickinson also scored less than 10 points for the second time this season.
According to Tech Athletics, Williams continued his strong performance in the second half, shooting 4-for-4 from the floor and 2-for-2 the rest of the game.
Tech, now 18-6, will next travel to Ames, Iowa, to take on No. 10 Iowa State at 11 a.m. Saturday at Hilton Coliseum. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
