Jarrett Culver Leads Texas Tech to Easy Win vs. Oklahoma

The eighth-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders earned their first win over a ranked opponent, defeating the No. 23 Oklahoma Sooners 66-59 on Tuesday night at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas.

The Red Raiders rely on Jarrett Culver for a lot of their offense, and the sophomore guard delivered, finishing 8-of-13 for 23 points while grabbing 13 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.

Texas Tech's defense was the biggest reason for the victory. The Red Raiders entered Tuesday as the No. 2 team in scoring defense (52.3 points per game) and No. 1 in opponent field-goal percentage (32.8).

Oklahoma shot 32.3 percent from the field as a team and missed 20 of its 29 three-point attempts.

Texas Tech the Biggest Threat to Dethrone Kansas after Udoka Azubuike Injury

Kansas head coach Bill Self confirmed Sunday that Udoka Azubuike will miss the remainder of the season as the result of a ligament injury in his hand that requires surgery. The Jayhawks have won 14 straight Big 12 regular-season titles, but Azubuike's injury may prevent them from making it 15 in a row.

Nobody is positioned better to take down Kansas than Texas Tech, and Tuesday's game was a great example why.

At halftime, the Sooners led 35-31 and were generally using their bruising style to throw off Texas Tech.

Then the Red Raiders held Oklahoma to 24 second-half points. That kind of defensive dominance wasn't surprising. Texas Tech's lone defeat came against Duke when the high-powered Blue Devils shot just 38.3 percent.

Culver is what makes Tech one of the best in the country. A suffocating defense isn't as effective if you can't score, and Culver is the kind of singular talent who can carry the offense.

Brady Manek tied things up at 51 on a three-pointer with 4:47 left in the second half. Culver responded by scoring nine straight points for Texas Tech. He stepped up when the Red Raiders needed him the most.

The Big 12 isn't lacking in competition for Kansas. Aside from the Jayhawks, the conference has five other teams ranked inside the top 30 on KenPom.com.

Texas Tech is making a strong case for why it will capture its first Big 12 regular-season championship in 2019.

Lack of Perimeter Shooting Puts Ceiling on Oklahoma's March Aspirations

Oklahoma has now played three ranked teams (Texas Tech, Wisconsin and Kansas). In those three games, the Sooners shot a combined 29.7 percent from beyond the arc.

Needless to say, that's not going to get it done against the elite teams in college basketball, and it's a worrying sign for Oklahoma's hopes of making a deep tournament run.

Texas Tech shows a team can get by without hitting a high volume of three-pointers or being an elite shooting team from the perimeter. That's a feature—not a bug—of the Red Raiders' game plan, though. They're first in adjusted defense and 243rd in adjusted tempo on KenPom.com.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, is seventh and 56th, respectively, in those two categories. The Sooners favor a slightly more uptempo style, which means they need their shooting to come through. Their offense disappears when the game slows to a crawl, which is what happened against the Red Raiders.

Oklahoma missed the NCAA tournament altogether in 2016-17 and exited in the first round a season ago. The Sooners should continue making progress in that regard in 2019, but the second round or Sweet 16 might be the extent of their potential in the Big Dance without some improvement on offense.

What's Next?

Texas Tech heads to Austin for a matchup with in-state rival Texas on Saturday. Oklahoma will face its third ranked opponent in a little over a week when it hosts No. 25 TCU on Saturday.