Bryson Williams racked up 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds in just 17 minutes to help Texas Tech to an 89-74 win over North Florida on Tuesday in Lubbock, Texas.
The Red Raiders wore down North Florida with their quality depth, defense and rebounding, forging a 50-36 lead at the half. The Ospreys traded baskets with Texas Tech for the first 12 minutes of the second half before the Red Raiders produced an 11-0 run to push their advantage to 26 points, 87-61, with 5:14 to play.
From there, Texas Tech cruised to the finish as Mark Adams won his first game as head coach. Adams spent the past three years as an assistant under Chris Beard, who left to become the head coach at Texas.
Williams, a transfer from UTEP, hit his first six field goal attempts. Kevin Obanor, a transfer from Oral Roberts, added 17 points, Davion Warren (transfer from Hampton) tallied 14, and Marcus Santos-Silva scored 13 points for the Red Raiders.
Texas Tech outrebounded North Florida 44-23 and had 54 points in the paint.
Carter Hendricksen and Jarius Hicklen scored 14 points each to pace the Ospreys, with Jadyn Parker and Jose Placer adding 13 apiece.
The Red Raiders never trailed, scoring the game’s first nine points before North Florida rallied to within 22-17 on a free throw by Parker at the 10:44 mark of the first half. Texas Tech forged a 10-2 run over the next 3 ½ minutes to push its advantage to 13 points and went to the break up 50-36.
Williams led all scorers with 12 points in the half on a near-perfect first 20 minutes – 4-for-4 from the floor and 3-for-3 from the free throw line. Obanor added 10 points by halftime for the Red Raiders.
Placer paced the Ospreys with 11 points at halftime.
The Red Raiders played without leading returning scorer Terrence Shannon Jr., who will be withheld from competition as the school ensures all NCAA rules were followed when Shannon elected to go through the NBA draft process over the summer.
–Field Level Media
