When it came down to the wire in overtime with seconds to play, Kentucky center Nick Richards was able to put the game to ice nailing two free throws.

Texas Tech could not capitalize on the final-shot opportunity losing the ball out of bounds, giving the Wildcats the 76-74 edge in Lubbock.

To start off, the Red Raiders paced and kept up with Kentucky through the first few minutes of the game, although getting out-rebounded. That quickly changed and the scoring started.

Kyler Edwards started his night off with an elbow three-pointer that ignited the crowd. Edwards then hit another three, followed by a Terrence Shannon fast-break jam that got the arena on its feet.

The game went back and forth throughout the first half, but a last-second half-court heave from Kentucky’s Immanuel Quickly helped take the momentum for the Wildcats into the locker room.

Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard credited this game as Big 12-type fight.

“It was a big-time college basketball game,” Beard said. “We played twenty minutes; they beat us by two. We play them another twenty minutes: we beat them by two, and then we played five minutes, and they beat us by a couple free throws. I wish we could’ve played another five minutes. Felt like it might’ve been one of those games whoever had the ball last wins. So, we were in that situation, and it just wasn’t meant to be for us tonight.”

After he went down in the first half with what looked like a head injury, redshirt freshman Kevin McCullar came up big down the stretch in overtime making a layup with a chance for one more at the free throw line.

McCullar missed the free throw short. The Wagner (San Antonio, TX) product finished with six points on 3-5 shooting.

“It was a scary fall in the first half,” Beard said on McCullar’s injury. “They told us at halftime that he completely fine. His mom and dad were even there, so we all made the decision together. (McCullar) was like, ‘Coach, one-hundred percent, I’m fine.’ So, he did a great job in the second half.”

Edwards finished with the team-high for Tech with 18 points. Edwards also corralled in seven rebounds and a block.

It was Edwards’ shooting in the first half that held the Red Raiders in check to keep pace with the high-flying and much bigger Wildcats.

The Kentucky center finished with the game-high 25 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and was a sensational 11-14 from the free-throw line, which helped the Wildcats pull out of the Big 12-SEC Challenge with the win.

“What am I thinking? I’m thinking we need them,” Richards said for the clutch free throws in overtime. “We need these free throws to help us win the game. You know, I missed a couple of them (I missed three), and (Immanuel Quickley) and (Ashton Hagans), you know, came up to me and said I’m good. When I missed my first one, I was starting to do a little, like angry thing, and Immanuel just came over and just… he helped me through it and told me just to take my time and knock it down.”

As a team, the Wildcats out-rebounds the Red Raiders 38-32. The difference: defensive rebounds (10-10 on the offensive glass). With Richards’ 14, the rest of Kentucky reeled in 11 rebounds, which showed how big the 6’11’’ center was in the game.

“We had no chance of winning without Nick,” Kentucky guard Immanuel Quickley said. “What he did for us: rebounding the ball, scoring in the paint when we needed it. Twenty-five and fourteen, four blocks, I mean, there’s not too many big men in the country that’s doing that. What he brought today was real big.”

One thing everyone can agree on was the atmosphere at United Supermarkets Arena was outstanding. With recruits in town getting the “Come to Tech” chant from the student section, the game lived up to the hype, and Kentucky head coach John Calipari praised the USA.

“We drove by the tents last night,” Beard said about the students camping out on Friday night. “I wanted them to see that, you know, you bring out the best in people. And let me say this, I’ve been to all kind of different arenas. This was a classy crowd. I’ve been to arenas where I don’t want to take my team back. It’s disgusting, like why should I do that and help another program if you got to walk in and it’s just disgusting? Here, that was a classy crowd, and they were all over it for their team. They didn’t care about us. That’s how our crowd is.

Earlier in the week, Beard talked about Calipari coming down to Lubbock to watch a practice, and tonight Calipari told the same story coming down the West Texas with his staff and again praised how great the venue was tonight.

“And this is a great place. I see their building a practice facility. This is an unbelievable arena.”

On the week, the Red Raiders go 0-2 heading into a tough home game against West Virginia, who won their Big 12-SEC Challenge matchup against Missouri, 74-51.

The Red Raiders stay at 3-3 in conference play and look to get back above .500 Wednesday night.

“We have a no excuse culture. We explain to our guys, ‘you can win a basketball game on a night you make shots but you can also win a game on a night where you don’t make shots. There’s ways to get it done. Obviously, it’s going to be really difficult to beat a Kentucky when you go 3 for 19 from 3-point line but there were still ways to win the game. We’re a blockout away, we’re a free throw away, we’re one open shot away, we’re one less foul away, we’re one blockout away from winning the game tonight. It’s going to be hard if we don’t shoot a better percentage than that from 3 but we’ll continue to work at it. Lot of confidence in the guys that shoot 3’s for us. We’ll just stay the course.”