Christian Anderson crafted an outstanding all-around game Tuesday night, tallying 31 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists as No. 16 Texas Tech ended the Big 12’s longest active winning streak by overcoming Cincinnati 80-68 in Lubbock, Texas.
The point guard set a personal Big 12 career-high by making 11 of 19 shots, including 3 of 8 from deep, as the Red Raiders (21-7, 11-4) moved to 2-0 without star forward J.T. Toppin.
LeJaun Watts notched 13 points and five boards, while Donovan Atwell had 12 points, all on 4 of 9 long-range shooting.
Texas Tech outrebounded Cincinnati 40-24.
Coming off a 16-point win at then-No. 8 Kansas on Saturday, the Bearcats (15-13, 7-8) arrived in Texas with momentum but wasted a hot start to lose for the first time in five games.
Moustapha Thiam totaled 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Jalen Celestine had 15 points. Baba Miller had 12 points, four rebounds and four assists. Jizzle James added 12 points.
Cincinnati was up to the task early as it grabbed a 13-4 lead. Day Day Thomas nailed a 3-pointer to open the game and James added two more as the club connected on its first five field goals.
The visitors continued the hot shooting by hitting their next four shots – a 9-for-9 to start — to make it 23-16 at 12:40, but the Red Raiders canned 6 of 10 shots to start and got six points from Anderson to stay within single digits.
The crowd came alive as the Red Raiders finally got over the hump and grabbed their first lead when Jaylen Petty sank a 27-foot trey to make it 34-32 with 3:35 left in the half.
Closing out on a 15-2 run over the final five minutes, the home side carried a 42-34 lead into the locker room. It shot 53.6% (15 of 28) from the field, including 6 of 14 from distance, in the rally.
The Bearcats went cold early in the second half during a four-minute stretch, but Thiam netted eight points to get it to 52-46.
However, Anderson made it an 11-point game on a layup with 12:30 left, and he and Watts took control offensively to seal the win after Cincinnati closed to within eight with 6:33 to play.
