No. 25 Texas Tech overturns 16-point halftime deficit to beat No. 20 BYU 85-78

LUBBOCK, Texas — Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland could probably give a laundry list of adjustments he made with his team down double-digits to No. 20 BYU at halftime.

He only needed one, though.

And his name was Pop Isaacs.

The sophomore from Las Vegas who prepped at Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant scored 23 of his game-high 32 points in the second half as No. 25 Texas Tech overturned a 16-point halftime deficit to rally past No. 20 BYU 85-78.

Warren Washington added 19 points and nine rebounds for the Red Raiders (15-3, 4-1 Big 12), and McMillian scored 14 with five rebounds to help Texas Tech bounce back from a 77-54 drubbing Wednesday at No. 5 Houston.

So if Saturday afternoon felt like Texas Tech had a bit more motivation not to drop its second game in conference play, that's because they did.

"I just knew it was a must-win game for us," said Isaacs, who also had five rebounds and four assists. "We're playing in the Big 12, a super-hard conference like this, where every game is tough. We're paying attention to every other game, and we know we're going to get bumps and bruises, but I just didn't want to lose this game."

Aly Khalifa notched a season-high 21 points, seven rebounds and three assists, and Richie Saunders added 16 points and four rebounds for the Cougars (14-4, 2-3 Big 12).

Dallin Hall chipped in 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists, including a 3-pointer with 24 seconds left to pull BYU within 81-78.

But the Cougars could get no closer after surrendering a 48-32 halftime lead with 53 second-half points on Texas Tech's 63% shooting and 13-of-14 from the free-throw line.

Saunders gave BYU a 10-0 start, and the Cougars never looked back through the first half, outrebounding the Red Raiders 22-16 and limiting the hosts to 35% shooting and 4-of-11 from deep en route to a 16-point halftime advantage.

Saunders, who provided a key spark off the bench in Tuesday's win over Iowa State, worked his magic from the starting five with 6 points on 2-of-3 shooting, including 2-of-3 makes in two trips to the free-throw line and a rebound in 9 minutes for the Cougars en route to a 22-8 advantage on Townsend Tripple's 3-pointer with 10:32 left in the half.

The sophomore who replaced Noah Waterman "for health reasons" shortly before tipoff had 13 points at the break, Hall added 6 points, four rebounds and four assists, and the Cougars shot 54% from the field — including 10-of-20 from 3-point range — to take a 48-32 halftime lead. Fousseyni Traore added 4 points and six rebounds off the bench, propelling BYU to 11 second-chance points.

But McCasland, who took the Texas Tech job this summer after leading North Texas to a 135-65 record in six seasons that included last year's NIT championship, had plenty of second-half adjustments in his bag of tricks.

The biggest thing, though? He didn't sense any panic in his players, or in the near-capacity crowd at the 15,020-seat arena that roared to life every time Texas Tech attempted a comeback and soared the decibals to deafening levels while the Red Raiders forced eight of BYU's 12 turnovers in the second half during the comeback.

"Our guys didn't panic," McCasland said, before motioning to Isaacs, "and I'm sitting next to a guy who wasn't going to let us lose this basketball game."

Isaacs cut into BYU's lead with 8 points and a pair of 3-pointers during a 12-5 run to start the second half. Texas Tech's leading scorer from Las Vegas who spent two seasons at Wasatch Academy then tipped a rebound to McMillian, who finished the putback to pull the Red Raiders within 55-53 after a 7-0 run with 13:02 to play.

"We did a poor job managing transition in the first six minutes of the second half, and Pop got going," Pope said of the sophomore who averages 16.1 points per game. "I thought our guys were really resilient and stayed in the fight. We just weren't quite good enough to stem the tide."

The Cougars also cooled off from distance, making just 3-of-19 3-pointers after the break after scorching 10 in the first half. They did so with help-defense and better rotations, mostly "going under screens when we were supposed to go under," McCasland jested.

But mostly, credit goes to Isaacs, who caught fire himself from the 3-point line and helped the Red Raiders score 22 points off turnovers and 12 points in transition.

"He did what he does," Saunders said. "He makes good shots, and that's ... just what he did."

Isaacs finished at the rim to pull within one, 56-55. BYU went to Khalifa on three straight possessions, and the big man from Alexandria, Egypt finished all three times to push the lead back to 62-57 with 8:43 to go.

The Red Raiders tied it up after Isaacs forced a turnover and dished to McMillian with 7:32 remaining, and took their first lead of the game at 64-62 on Washington's jumper less than 30 seconds later.

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