Texas Tech snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against No. 3 Iowa State, dropping Saturday’s contest 85-84 in overtime.

Here are our takeaways from the action…

In the dying minutes of the game with several opportunities to put the Cyclones on ice, the Red Raiders’ inability to maintain consistency at the free throw line proved to be costly.

With 20 seconds remaining, Elijah Hawkins was sent to the charity stripe with Tech holding firm onto a 72-70 lead. With a chance to go up by a crucial four points, Hawkins split his attempts.

This allowed ISU’s Keshon Gilbert to force his way to the basket to bring the deficit within one point, 73-72.

Next up was Chance McMillian, who also made one and missed one at the stripe, 74-72.

After a timeout from Tech head coach Grant McCasland with six seconds remaining, the Cyclones were able to get set up with a stack set and caused enough confusion around the basket for Joshua Jefferson to find daylight and convert the tying layup.

In overtime, the ball fell into the hands of Darrion Williams, who was sent to the line with the game knotted at 81 apiece with a minute remaining.

Again, like how Hawkins and McMillian did before him, Williams missed the first and made the second to go ahead 82-81.

Ultimately, Williams did score a layup after Jefferson put the ball in the hoop on the ensuing possession, but the missed free throws in the clutch put Tech in uncertain predicaments.

Senior point guard Elijah Hawkins played a pivotal role in the Red Raiders’ sweep of the state of Utah and his comfortability in the offense has done wonders for the team.

Against the Cyclones, Hawkins was again a crucial piece and dished out a dazzling 10 assists with no turnovers.

Unfortunately for Hawkins, however, the foul bug got to him and he picked up his fourth foul early in the second half.

This forced budding freshman Christian Anderson to play a total of 38 minutes, second on the team only to Chance McMillian.

Facing a physical ISU defense, it took Anderson some time to settle in, but he was rewarded with 18 points on an efficient 6-11 shooting day from the field.

On top of that, Anderson went 4-4 from beyond the arc, including a massive stepback fadeaway triple to tie the game at 77 in overtime.

Iowa State’s aggressiveness on defense transcended into the painted region and the Cyclones used the area down low to help drive their comeback and win.

At the end of the first half, ISU was without a make from beyond the arc, going 0-5.

While the Cyclones did eventually finish with six made triples, going 6-12 in the second half and overtime, it was their 50 points in the paint that caught the attention of head coach Grant McCasland postgame.

The Cyclones made a concerted effort to put Tech into chaos in the paint, where a hobbled JT Toppin and Fede Federiko did their best to try and stave off Joshua Jefferson, who finished with 17 points.

ISU head coach TJ Otzelberger called his final timeout on a baseline out-of-bounds play with 1:25 remaining in regulation.

He was gifted two more timeouts when McCasland elected to use his final two stoppages ahead of possessions that were set to go to the way of the Cyclones.

McCasland’s decision to call his timeouts allowed Iowa State to set up a pair of offensive sets that both drew the game within one and eventually led to the tying basket by Jefferson.

While McCasland cited wanting to get his inexperienced squad set on defense, it goes without question that these timeouts aided Otzelberger’s side by giving way to draw up their ideal plays.

The Red Raiders have now dropped their second home game of the conference slate, moving to 2-2 in Big 12 play. It may not be set-back in the traditional sense, but holding firm control over the No. 3 team in the land just to watch that control slip away steadily is a gut punch for Texas Tech.

The Red Raiders will now prepare for the Octagon of Doom, with a road trip to Manhattan, KS on tap for a date against Jerome Tang and Kansas State Jan. 14. Tip off against the Wildcats is slated for 8:00 p.m.