Texas Tech demolishes No. 9 Texas AM
LUBBOCK, TX - Bob Knight reached another milestone.
Texas Tech beat No. 10 Texas A&M 68-53 on Wednesday night, the Hall of Fame coach's 900th career victory.
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After the game fans chanted Knight's name as he walked off the court to a thunderous ovation.
"You folks being here, seats being full for a change, really made a difference tonight," Knight told the crowd before leaving the court.
Like when Knight surpassed former North Carolina coach Dean Smith on the Division I career list with win No. 880, he got his 900th on his second try.
The win was Tech's third straight over an Aggies team ranked in the top 10. Last season the Red Raiders beat A&M twice by a combined four points. The Aggies were ranked No. 6 going into each game and were on nine- and five-game winning streaks, respectively.
The Aggies (15-2, 1-1 Big 12) looked frazzled and out of sync most of the game. A&M went 18-for-53 from the field in its worst shooting performance (34 percent) of the season and they turned the ball over a season-high 20 times.
Martin Zeno scored 19 points and Trevor Cook added a career-high 14 for Texas Tech (10-6, 1-1).
The Aggies used a 14-4 run to whittle the Red Raiders' lead to 39-31 with about 16 minutes remaining.
But Tech stiffened and went on a 20-4 run to go up by 56-35 with 7:45 remaining. The run included two 3-pointers by Trevor Cook and one by Alan Voskuil.
A&M never threatened after that.
Josh Carter and Joseph Jones scored 11 points each to lead the Aggies.
Knight, in his seventh season at Tech, has never opened Big 12 play with consecutive losses. The win kept that record in tact.