JT Toppin, No. 9 Texas Tech overcome a slow start to beat West Virginia

LUBBOCK, Texas — JT Toppin scored 22 points, freshman Christian Anderson had a season-high 21 points with five 3-pointers in his first career start and ninth-ranked Texas Tech beat West Virginia, 73-51, on Saturday.

Toppin and the Red Raiders (21-6, 12-4 Big 12) overcame a slow start, with the 6-foot-9 reigning AP national player of the week making nine of his last 10 shots after missing his first six. Tech fell behind 24-15 when missing 18 of its first 23 shots before ending the first half with a 15-3 run to go ahead to stay.

Amani Hansberry had 14 points and 11 rebounds for West Virginia (16-11, 7-9), his second double-double in a row. Javon Small had 10 points.

Anderson started in place of Chance McMillian, the Big 12’s top 3-point shooter, who was out after rolling his right ankle late in the Red Raiders’ 69-66 loss at TCU on Tuesday night.

Kevin Overton and Elijah Hawkins both had 10 points for Tech.

Takeaways

West Virginia won its first three games this season against Top 25 opponents, but has lost three of its last four to ranked teams.

Texas Tech has 12 wins in its first 16 Big 12 games for the first time in the league’s 29-season history, surpassing its 11-5 conference records in 2019 and 2022. The Red Raiders haven’t lost consecutive games this season.

Key moment

Overton had six points and Toppin two layups in a 10-0 run over the final 3 1/2 minutes of the first half to put Tech up 30-27.

Key stat

West Virginia missed 25 of its last 33 shots after Hansberry’s 3 for a 27-20 lead with 4:09 left in the first half.

Up next

Texas Tech hosts fifth-ranked Houston on Monday night. West Virginia is home against TCU on Tuesday night.