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LUBBOCK, Texas — A lot had to go right for No. 25 Texas Tech to overcome a 16-point halftime deficit to beat No. 20 BYU 85-78, like former Wasatch Academy star Pop Isaacs popping off for 23 of his game-high 32 points in the second half.
Isaacs' big game, combined with 22 points off 12 turnovers and BYU's 3-of-19 3-point shooting in the second half — none of which are mutually exclusive from the others — lifted the Red Raiders (15-3, 4-1 Big 12) to a bounceback win after suffering their first loss of conference play Wednesday at No. 5 Houston.
"I thought they did an unbelievable job with their energy, especially pushing the ball in transition," BYU coach Mark Pope said. "We helped them a little bit. We had an early turnover that led to some transition, and we did a poor job uncharacteristically of managing transition for the first six minutes of the second half. Then Pop got going, and made some terrific plays. I thought our guys were really resilient, and stayed in the fight. We just weren't quite good enough to stem the tide."
Losing on the road against a top-25 opponent, and one rated No. 31 in KenPom's predictive metrics, isn't a detrimental loss for the Cougars, who are one of nine Big 12 teams ranked in KenPom's top 35 and No. 10 and No. 5 in the NET ratings.
BYU has a chance to make up for such a loss virtually every night in conference play, and even perennial power Kansas has slipped up in league play (twice, including Saturday's 91-85 defeat in Morgantown that landed West Virginia its first Big 12 win).
But can Pope's team make up for such losses with a rotation of seven players, or eight total players like it did Saturday afternoon in front of an announced crowd of 15,098 at United Supermarkets Arena?
Aly Khalifa clearly found a mismatch with a season-high 21 points, seven rebounds and three assists — Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said the Raiders were "giving up 2's for 3's" during the comeback — and Dallin Hall piped in 12 points and six assists on 4-of-8 3-point shooting for the Cougars.
The Red Raiders jumped on the Cougars early, turning turnovers into transition opportunities in the first six minutes of the second half as BYU struggled to respond to the pressure.
"They adjusted well," BYU guard Richie Saunders said. "There's so much me we can do better with that pressure, and we will."
But BYU's troubles began shortly before the opening tip, when Noah Waterman was ruled out "for health reasons." Saunders performed well filling in for Waterman, totaling 16 points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal on 6-of-9 shooting and bringing the same energy for 33 minutes that normally does for 18 off the bench.
"I thought Richie was terrific. It was a game-time health decision, and he didn't have a lot of prep time" Pope said. "But Richie responded really, really well. He's pretty fearless and physical, and he fits in games like this. I thought he had an outstanding performance."
The best ability is availability, and Saunders has been available whenever his number has been called. But the same can't be said for much of the roster.
Spencer Johnson is the only player to have started every game for BYU (14-4, 2-3 Big 12) this season, and only three players have played in every game: Johnson, Hall and Saunders.
Fousseyni Traore (hamstring) and Trevin Knell (foot) are both coming off injuries, and Dawson Baker has been ruled out for the season as he gets surgery to repair a foot issue that followed the scoring wing from UC Irvine.
Marcus Adams Jr. was waiting on a waiver from the NCAA to play. But even as the courts have temporarily halted the organization's "year-in-residency" policy, the four-star freshman has been sidelined with other health concerns and his status for the rest of the season is yet to be determined.
In all, six BYU players have missed games due to injury.
It's been a challenging season for the BYU medical staff, which includes former NBA strength and conditioning coach Michael Davie and Rob Ramos, one of the most tenured athletic trainers on campus across all sports with more than 20 years of experience at BYU.
Injury prevention, treatment and rehabilitation aren't always controllable by the sports medicine staff. But BYU's recent struggles in the area are being magnified in what most consider to be the best college basketball conference in America.
"We're going to have to do better than we're doing right now at actually being healthy — that's actually a really important part of playing at this level, is being able to consistently put a crew out on the floor where you have some continuity," Pope told BYU Radio after the game. "That's going to be really important for us."
BYU had to cancel the annual blue-white scrimmage back on Oct. 25 because of an inability to field two complete lineups due to injuries. Three months later, similar challenges face the Cougars with 13 games remaining — including Tuesday night's home tilt against No. 5 Houston (7 p.m. MST, ESPN+).
"We have an elite-level performance team," Pope said. "We've got to find a way to do this better. You don't think about that all the time, but it's going to be important for us moving forward."
