No. 9 Tech Uses Hot Start to Fuel Quarterfinals Win

Thursday, March 13

Kansas City, Mo.

6 p.m.

Baylor

19-14,10-10Big 12

Texas Tech

25-7,15-5Big 12

Baylor

Texas Tech

No. 9 Tech Uses Hot Start to Fuel Quarterfinals Win

3/13/2025 8:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- No. 9 Texas Tech, the No. 2 seed, made its first eight shots and sank 10 3-pointers in the opening 12 minutes, fueling a 76-74 win over No. 7 seed Baylor men's basketball, in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Big 12 Championships, in Kansas City, Mo., at the T-Mobile Center.

Baylor (19-14) could not overcome the hot start of Texas Tech (25-7), as the Red Raiders made their first eight shots and drilled 11 3-pointers in the first 13 minutes of the game to build an early, insurmountable lead. The Bears rallied in the second half however, behind a stifling defensive effort, and had a look at a game-winning basket as time expired, with the ball rolling off the rim to send Tech to the semifinals.

The Bears will now await NCAA Tournament selection, with the Selection Show on Sunday at 5 p.m. on CBS.

Norchad Omier charted a season-best performance in his school-record 21^st double-double of the year and the 89^th of his career, which is second-best in college basketball history. Omier's BU record ninth-straight double-double came courtesy of a season-high 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting with 11 rebounds. It marked the fifth-most points for a BU player in the Big 12 Championships, equaling Kish Lewis (1999).

Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year VJ Edgecombe had 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals over 36 minutes played, with his attempted game-winning running 3-pointer rolling off the rim to give the Red Raiders the win.

The Bears also got nine points from Jeremy Roach, eight points from Robert Wright and 10 points from Jayden Nunn.
BU shot 45 percent in the game and owned a 44-18 margin in points in the paint. Texas Tech star JT Toppin, the Big 12 Player of the Year, had 26 points and 10 rebounds to lead TTU.

The Red Raiders came out on a blistering pace, sinking their first eight shots – five 3-pointers – to build an early 21-10 lead with less than four minutes gone in the first half. The Bears rallied to cut the lead to four after a pair of Robert Wright runners in the paint. The Raiders grew the lead by sinking a pair of treys out of the second-media break, owning a 34-21 lead that the Bears would not be able to erase.

Tech's lead grew to 52-39 at halftime, with TTU shooting 58-percent, including a 12-of-19 mark from 3-point range.

Baylor managed to stay within striking distance throughout the second half, using a stifling defense that held Tech to just six made field goals and a 19.4 percent clip from the field, in the final period.

The Bears used a transition lay-up from Edgecombe with 15 minutes left in regulation to cut the lead to single digits. Jayden Nunn, who had 18 points off the bench on Wednesday night and moved into the starting lineup on Thursday with an injury to Langston Love, splashed a corner, transition 3-pointer to narrow the TTU advantage to 68-61 at the under eight-minute media timeout.

Consecutive buckets from Nunn and Roach cur the lead to 70-65 with six minutes left. After a key defensive stop and rebound, Wright's driving layup cut the lead to 72-69 with 25 seconds left.

After a pair of made free throws, Nunn sank a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 74-72 with 11 seconds left and Texas Tech kept the two-possession lead with two more at the charity stripe.

Wright went straight to the bucket, making it 76-74 with 4.5 seconds left, and Edgecombe immediately fouled to give the Bears a final chance.

A miss on both free throws led to a rebound from Edgecombe. He raced down the court and attempted a game-winning runner from behind the arc as time expired, with the ball rolling off the rim.

GAME NOTES

Baylor is 19-14 on the season and Texas Tech is 25-7.
Baylor will advance to the semifinals of the 2025 Big 12 Championships and will face off with No. 24 Arizona or Kansas at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN or ESPN2 and the Baylor Sports Media Network.
Baylor is 19-27 all-time in the Big 12 Championships and 15-23 in Kansas City in the event. Under Coach Scott Drew, the Bears are 15-21 in the Big 12 Championships.
The Bears have advanced to the semifinals for the Big 12 Championship for the second consecutive year and for the third time in the last five seasons.
Texas Tech owns an 85-65 lead in the series with BU and a 6-3 margin in the series when played at neutral-site venues.
This was just the second meeting between the schools in the Big 12 Championship, with the last coming in a 68-65 win by Texas Tech in 2003.
Under Drew, the Bears are 25-18 vs. Texas Tech.
Facing another former assistant coach in Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland, a 1999 BU graduate, Drew is now 3-6 against his former assistant coaches.
Drew is 483-269 in his 23^rd year and 463-258 in his 22^nd year at Baylor.
Since owning a full complement of scholarships, Baylor is 428-186 under Drew, dating back to 2007-08.
The Bears are 147-49 over the last six seasons.
Baylor is 110-5 since 2019 when shooting a higher percentage than its opponent.
The Bears used the starting lineup of Robert Wright, VJ Edgecombe, Jayden Nunn, Jalen Celestine and Norchad Omier for the first time this year.
Texas Tech made 15 3-pointers, the most vs. a Baylor team since Texas in 2019.
Omier posted a season highs in points (29), field goals (12) and field-goal attempts (18), while grabbing 14 rebounds and connecting on 5-of-6 from the line.
Omier had the fifth most points for a BU player in the Big 12 Championship, equaling Kish Lewis (1999).
Omier now has 89 career double-doubles, ranking second in NCAA history. He is seven shy of the NCAA record, owned by La Salle's Tom Gola (96).
Omier broke the program record for double-doubles in a season (21), passing Jerome Lambert (1993-94).
Omier is the first player in program history to have a double-double in nine straight games. The previous standard was five straight.
Omier has scored in double figures in 28 of 33 games in 2024-25, with the Bears going 19-9 in those outings.
Omier reached 20+ points for the fifth time on the year.
With 14 rebounds, Omier has 1,674 career boards passing Kenneth Farried for 11^th (1,673) in NCAA history.
Omier's 359 rebounds in 2024-25 move him into fourth place in Baylor single-season history, passing Jerome Lambert (1993-94) and Ekpe Udoh (2009-10).
Edgecombe had 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals in 36 minutes.
Edgecombe has scored in double figures in 25 games on the year, with the Bears going 16-8 in those outings.
Edgecombe passed Isaiah Austin (2012-13) to move into fifth in BU freshman history in points (465).
Edgecombe has 66 steals on the year, the most in Baylor freshman history, and passed James Akinjo (2021-22) and Wendall Greenleaf (2001-02) for seventh in BU single-season history.
Robert Wright had eight points and one assist in 25 minutes.
Wright has 143 assists in 2024-25, the Baylor freshman record.
Jayden Nunn had 10 points, five rebounds and one steal in 31 minutes.
Nunn has scored in double figures in 15 games on the year, with the Bears going 11-4 in those games. He has 32 career double-figure games at Baylor.