The Morning After: Texas Tech completes largest comeback in school history

Jan 31, 2023 - 3:00 PM

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Do you remember when you were young? I’m talking like first semester on campus. You somehow found a house party to go to off campus, or maybe you roughed it and drank in your dorm room even though its frowned upon. Do you remember in those days when you would drink and wake up with absolutely no hangover at all, because you were young?

That’s how I feel today.

We have asked difficult questions about this program for the last month. Most of them have been warranted. I got a lot of answers last night. From about the 13:00 minute mark in the second half until time ran out in OT, I saw a team I haven’t seen all year. That team fought tooth and nail to get that win. They were playing so free because they had nothing to lose, and man that defense was stifling.

An incredible effort.

Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Ironically, this game took much of the script from the first game in Ames, and copied it to the T. In the first game, Tech trailed 39-20.. last night? 39-22. Tech shot mid 20’s percentage wise from the field in the first half in this one as well. I actually was texting back and forth with a friend of mine and we were joking at half that it was a carbon copy of that game at Hilton.

The first play of the 2nd half? A Caleb Grill 3 pointer. It looked like nothing had changed. Hell, I even tweeted this:

It was around the 9:39 mark where things started to change. The score was 61-46.

In the span of 50 seconds, Jaylon Tyson had three steals leading to made layups, free throws, and/or both.

At that point, everyone knew it was on.

Tech had been down 23 earlier in the half and for me while watching it became a question of too big of a margin. Were we too far down to mount the comeback? Not. A. Chance.

At about the 6:26 mark, it was Lamar Washington’s turn. He had two steals leading to buckets on the other end, closing the gap to 63-56.

From the 12:37 mark to the 3:50 mark, Texas Tech went on a 21-5 run.

Make no mistake about it, it was based on that vaunted Mark Adams defense. A defense that has plagued this team at times this year. But when that intensity hit its peak, Iowa State couldn’t even cross half court without turning it over.

Quite simply: It was beautiful defense.

Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

From the 11:30 mark until the end of regulation, Iowa State was forced into THIRTEEN turnovers.

Unreal.

Tech ended up winning the OT point differential 9-6. Tech scored 49 points in the second half. This was a comeback that by all means should’ve never happened.

But it did. But. It. Did.

We have been so close in so many conference games this year, we’ve lost games we should’ve won. We got blown out in Ames. But man, this one was fantastic.

I’m a firm believer in the “all it takes is one win” movement to get it started. Well, we have two in a row.

Let’s keep it going.