How KU basketball & Texas Tech reacted after last-second finish in Lubbock
Melvin Council Jr. shouted the word “Kansas” as he pulled out the front of his jersey while running to the visitors’ locker room after the Jayhawks completed an epic 64-61 comeback victory over Texas Tech on Monday night in United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas.
“What a game. What a game. What a game,” sophomore guard Jamari McDowell gasped seconds before coach Bill Self addressed the team after its sixth consecutive victory in Big 12 play, third straight on the road.
“You can’t do better than what you’ve done. You can’t do any better, but we can keep it going. Unbelievable men ... I’m proud of you,” was Self’s message, captured on KU’s social media X account, after the No. 11-ranked Jayhawks improved to 17-5 overall and 7-2 in conference action.
The scene was quite different in the home team’s locker room. The No. 13-ranked Red Raiders, who squandered a 10-point lead in the final 10 minutes, were flat-out devastated by a loss that dropped the team to 16-6 overall and 6-3 in Big 12 play.
“I think this one’s probably pretty unexplainable and pretty tough for our guys,” Tech coach Grant McCasland told media after the game. “Kansas deserves all the credit for the way they finished and won that basketball game.
“But I love our guys’ fight, and I love Jaylen Petty’s heart to win the game. He’s crushed in there, crushed.”
Petty hit three 3s and scored 11 points with six assists and two steals in 39 minutes, playing nearly the entire game with star guard Christian Anderson a last-second scratch because of illness.
“JT is crushed,” McCasland added of forward JT Toppin, held to 10 points on 5-of-18 shooting by KU’s Flory Bidunga. “Christian Anderson’s crushed. He’s so sad and disappointed he wasn’t able to play. Our guys are tough and care a lot about this team, and they’re all hurt. But Kansas, I thought, was tremendous down the stretch. Man, did they play great.”
McCasland was left impressed — to say the least — by KU freshman Darryn Peterson’s performance down the stretch.
Peterson, who finished with 19 points in 35 minutes, accepted a perfect touch pass from Council, then hit an acrobatic 3 from the corner, tying the game at 61-61 with 1:20 to play. He followed with a game-winning 3 (with 0:45 left) after dribbling the ball to the left side of the arc near KU’s bench.
“At the end they set a flare screen when they were down three, and we were 100% switching it. JT switched it. We talked about it. It was what we communicated … And he made a really hard shot over JT,” McCasland said. “JT had a left-hand contest on a right-handed shot. I thought the degree of difficulty on that shot was tremendous.
“That one, and then the second one, we didn’t execute that well — the game winner that he hit. Peterson came off, and we’d been putting two on the ball with him. For some reason we didn’t on that last play and he doesn’t need time and space after he’s made one like he did on the right wing. Big, big shot-making by him to do it. The first one I thought was an unbelievable shot. The second one, we didn’t guard it the right way. He still made a great play. Give him credit.”
McCasland did not disagree with KU coach Self, who said he thought Flory Bidunga was the best defender in the country.
“I just think Flory … he’s really good around the rim. He’s got great length. He’s got great timing. I love his competitiveness. I think he separates Kansas and I thought he was great,” McCasland said.
“And I think foul trouble got us behind early. JT got a couple fouls and then he just didn’t look like he was in a rhythm early in the game. And give them credit. We did have to change some things and there was a different pattern how we played and just weren’t able to get him (Toppin) the ball in good spots. And then the second half, I do think sometimes we settle too much. And the second half, though, I thought JT was aggressive.
“He’s been getting to the free-throw line some and he just didn’t get to the free-throw line at all today (0-for-0 while Peterson was 6-of-8). He had three fouls and he’s been good at drawing fouls, but he didn’t draw one foul today. I’ve just got to help him figure out how we can do that better.”
McCasland said the game was an instant classic.
“What a competitive Big 12 game it was. It was one of those games where obviously getting stops was a big part of it. We were able to get stops and I loved our competitiveness, loved the fight of our team,” McCasland said. “I told them this game’s about finding ways to win. And we didn’t do that and Kansas did down the stretch. I thought Kansas was tremendous late and had good actions and had guys step up defensively and offensively.
“I hurt for our guys just because we were shorthanded (without Anderson) and didn’t plan on it (him being out). Just had no idea, and the fight that we showed considering the circumstance ... I love our guys, but it doesn’t count for anything other than a loss, and we don’t get time to think about anything other than we’ve got to go beat West Virginia on Sunday. And man, staying in the Big 12 is about being resilient and getting ready to get better.”
Tech will meet West Virginia at 12 p.m. Sunday in Morgantown. KU will meet Utah at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
This story was originally published February 3, 2026 at 1:14 PM.
