KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Texas Tech coach Mark Adams walked through the handshake line after a 72-41 win over Iowa State in the quarterfinals of the Phillips Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship, then pulled aside Cyclones coach T.J. Otzelberger to whisper a couple of kind words.
“I told T.J. we probably couldn’t have played better than we did tonight,” Adams said Thursday night.
On both ends of the floor.
Terrence Shannon Jr. led the way on offense, while Kevin McCullar returned from an injury to contribute 11 points and Adonis Arms and Kevin Obanor scored 10 apiece. And on defense, the No. 14 Red Raiders forced the Cyclones into committing 20 turnovers and a 5-for-25 night from beyond the 3-point arc.
The Red Raiders led 39-20 at halftime and cruised the rest of the way into a showdown with No. 7 seed Oklahoma on Friday night. The Sooners upset third-ranked Baylor 72-67 earlier in the night.
“We just watched Oklahoma beat Baylor and I feel like that fueled us more,” Shannon said, “and we also saw that Texas had a 20-point lead and blew it, so we knew any team could win today. We did our best to come out strong.”
They Cyclones (20-12), started the season 12-0 and beat the Red Raiders in early January.
“They played great. Very well prepared for that game,” Otzelberger said, “and on our end of things, that was completely unacceptable. ... Not our proudest moment and unacceptable effort. We’ve just got to be better.”
Tyrese Hunter led the Cyclones with nine points, though he also had seven turnovers. All-Big 12 guard Izaiah Brockington scored seven but was just 3 of 16 from the field and 1 of 6 from the 3-point line.
“We have to leave this game behind us,” Hunter said. “It’s a quick turnaround. Put it behind us and look to the next game.”
“Just extremely pleased,” Adams said. “I thought we played one of the best 40 minutes we’ve played all year. Our guys were ready to play. I’m certainly proud of their effort, especially on defense. I thought we made a statement that we’re a great defensive team and I was proud of that.”
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