LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) – Bob Knight wasn’t criticizing officials after Texas Tech’s 95-74 win over Colorado on Saturday night.
He saved that for his own team.
Knight, who was publicly reprimanded by the Big 12 this week for saying an official’s call on a charge was “horrendous” in a double-overtime loss to Oklahoma State, reserved his toughest comments for his Red Raiders after Tech struggled with retaining the lead against the Buffaloes.
Jarrius Jackson scored 28 points to lead Tech and Martin Zeno added 24, but Knight said what he really wants to see out of his team is leadership.
“The two best we’ve had in the last three years left at one time,” Knight said of Ronald Ross and Curtis Marshall, who both graduated in 2005.
“We just don’t have that and that’s tough to overcome. I think they’re reluctant to get on somebody else’s (rear), and that has hurt us.”
The win was the second straight for Texas Tech (17-10, 6-6 Big 12) after beating No. 6 Texas A&M earlier this week, which snapped a five-game skid.
Richard Roby scored 17 points and Jermyl Jackson-Wilson added 15 points to lead Colorado (6-16, 2-10).
But don’t think that Knight completely forgot about that public reprimand from the league. As he was walking out the door from the postgame news conference, Knight asked reporters to write that the officiating during Saturday’s win was “fantastic, unbelievable.”
“And see if I get a thank you from the Big 12 office,” Knight said.
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>> CU vs. Texas Tech Stats |
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COLORADO (6-16) Williams 2-5 0-0 4, King-Stockton 0-1 0-0 0, Coleman 5-6 0-0 11, Thorne 3-6 0-0 6, Silas 5-10 1-2 14, Inge 1-1 0-0 2, Van Burck 0-0 0-0 0, Roby 7-12 1-4 17, Jackson-Wilson 6-6 3-4 15, Perkowski 0-0 0-0 0, Kowal 1-1 0-0 2, Beckley 0-0 0-0 0, Bay 1-4 0-0 3. Totals 31-52 5-10 74. TEXAS TECH (17-10) Zeno 7-11 9-9 24, D.White 0-2 0-0 0, Plefka 2-5 1-2 6, Burgess 6-8 0-0 16, Jackson 9-17 8-10 28, Valentine 1-2 1-4 4, Hoffmeister 0-0 0-0 0, Mitchell 0-0 0-0 0, Voskuil 3-5 2-2 10, Prince 0-1 0-0 0, Ogden 0-0 0-0 0, L.White 0-0 0-0 0, Suljagic 0-0 0-0 0, Dora 3-5 1-2 7. Totals 31-56 22-29 95. Halftime_Texas Tech 41-30. 3-Point Goals_Colorado 7-15 (Silas 3-5, Roby 2-5, Coleman 1-1, Bay 1-3, Thorne 0-1), Texas Tech 11-25 (Burgess 4-6, Voskuil 2-4, Jackson 2-7, Valentine 1-1, Zeno 1-2, Plefka 1-3, Dora 0-1, D.White 0-1). Fouled Out_Voskuil, Williams. Rebounds_Colorado 26 (Coleman, Jackson-Wilson 7), Texas Tech 26 (Plefka 7). Assists_Colorado 16 (Coleman 4), Texas Tech 17 (Burgess 6). Total Fouls_Colorado 21, Texas Tech 13. A_10,298.
– AP
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Jackson’s performance moved him into second place for career Big 12 points (2,104) behind former teammate Andre Emmett, who finished with 2,256 points.
“It’s just a big honor for me,” Jackson said.
Tech was sharp from 3-point range, hitting 11 of 25, and led by double digits for much of the game. The Red Raiders took their largest lead at 64-38 when Zeno hit two free throws with more than 10 minutes left in the game.
Colorado coach Ricardo Patton said his team knew about Jackson and Zeno.
“We knew going into the game that those guys would score the bulk of their points and the other guys do a nice job of complementing those two players,” he said. “I was excited about us being together more as a team and making passes and looking for one another.”
Early in the second half, Colorado’s Xavier Silas and Tech’s Jon Plefka nearly got into a scuffle after Silas appeared to inadvertently knock Plefka to the floor after hitting a jumper.
When Plefka got up, the two players almost got into it. The incident brought Knight out on the court, walking across the center line to talk with officials after they parted the two players.
“He threw me down and kind of held me down,” Silas said of Plefka. “Stuff just happened.”
Tech fans booed whenever Silas handled or shot the ball the rest of the game.
Two other Tech players got into double figures, with Charlie Burgess scoring 16 and Alan Voskuil adding 10.
Jackson-Wilson tried to bring the Buffaloes back, scoring 10 of 12 Colorado points in less than three minutes to whittle the deficit to 71-51 with 8:10 remaining in the game.
Colorado got within 78-63 when Silas hit a 3-pointer with just under five minutes left but the Buffaloes could get no closer.
The Buffaloes went scoreless for about 4 1/2 minutes midway through the first half. During the drought, Texas Tech made field goals on six consecutive possessions, capped by consecutive 3-pointers by Jackson, putting the Red Raiders up 28-16 with 7:38 remaining before the break.
Tech capitalized on Colorado’s 11 first-half turnovers, getting 13 points on them.
Tech lost five games after beating two Top 10 teams, Kansas and Texas A&M, in a row last month. The Red Raiders wanted to avoid another lapse following their win at A&M last week, Burgess said.
“We just tried to stay on top of it and stay aggressive this game and try not to go into that lapse that we had in the previous time, so that was all up to coach and the players and the others on the coaching staff,” he said. “We did a great job on preparing for this game so we just got to look forward to this next game.”
