DePaul tops Texas Tech 65-60 in OT behind Coleman-Lands
CHICAGO (AP) — After years of futility, DePaul basketball is finally heading in the right direction.
Jalen Coleman-Lands scored eight of his 18 points in overtime to lead DePaul to a 65-60 win over Texas Tech on Wednesday night.
DePaul (9-0) is off to its best start since the 1986-87 season when the Blue Demons started 16-0. They already have road wins against Iowa and Minnesota. They also overcame an 18-point deficit against Central Michigan. Now they're building their NCAA Tournament resume with a win against the 2018-2019 national runner-up. The last time DePaul made the tournament was in the 2003-04 season.
"We are trying to exorcise the demons of the past," quipped coach Dave Leitao. "We talked about it against Central Michigan, in the past we couldn't come back from 18 so quick. Each night out we get an opportunity to erase those things that may have been part of our team, or this program years gone by, so we would like to think this is a brand new start, a brand new era."
Paul Reed added 18 points and seven rebounds and Jaylen Butz scored 17 for DePaul.
Freshman Terrence Shannon Jr. scored a career-high 24 points for Texas Tech (5-3), which has lost three straight.
Trailing 57-53 with 2:05 left in overtime, Coleman-Lands hit a 3 to get DePaul within 57-56. After Davide Moretti was called for an off-the-ball offensive foul, Charlie Moore found Romeo Weems for a back-door dunk to give DePaul a 58-57 lead.
Shannon got the lead back for Texas Tech with a 3 to make it 60-58 with 1:07 left, but Coleman-Lands answered with another 3 to put DePaul back up 61-60.
"After we made this shot, this is us, we're going to win," said Coleman-Lands. "There was no ifs, and or buts to be determined. That was our mentality."
Shannon missed a jumper with 36.7 seconds left in overtime and Texas Tech elected to foul Butz, who missed both free throws, but the Red Raiders weren't able to get the rebound.
"Coach drew up a play, I thought I could have got a better shot … that shot might been selfish because it was a little deep. (But) there was still time on the clock I could have used. I could have got closer to the basket and probably got my teammates open," said Shannon.
Texas Tech had one more chance after Chris Clarke had a steal, but Moore hustled to bat the ball away from Clarke and Coleman-Lands recovered the loose ball and made two free throws after being fouled.
"We’ve got to have a defense to get a stop and earn the right to right to win games like this. But give DePaul a lot of credit," said Texas Tech coach Chris Beard.
Shannon scored 18 in the second half in his homecoming and Kyler Edwards finished with 12.
Shannon, who went to high school just blocks from DePaul at Lincoln Park High School and verbally committed to DePaul before backing out, scored on a left-handed runner to give Texas Tech a 57-53 lead with 2:05 left in overtime.
"His spirit for the game is really good. Obviously, we knew there was going to be a personal challenge because he wanted to come back home and show who he is," said Leitao.
Texas Tech, which got off to slow starts in back-to-back losses led 26-23 at the half and was up 53-50 with 17 seconds left in regulation when Moretti made 1 of 2 free throws. Butz got the rebound and Coleman-Lands hit an open 3 to tie the game at 53 with 8.3 seconds left. Texas Tech turned the ball over just before the end of regulation. .
Texas Tech played without freshman starter Jahmi'us Ramsey, who missed his second straight game with a hamstring injury.
BIG PICTURE
Texas Tech: The road gets even tougher for Texas Tech as they host No. 1 Louisville on Tuesday.
DePaul: DePaul was able to pull off the upset, despite getting only six points from Moore, who came into game averaging 17.1. "He had to run around like nobody's business on defense," said Leitao. "On a night where he shot 2-for-15, it was the guys that do what they do that really made up for that. We rely on him, but we don't have to have him at his best every night. We hope we do, but we're a team, a team that contributes in a lot of different ways.
UP NEXT
Texas Tech ton Tuesday at home against No. 1 Louisville.
DePaul faces Buffalo on Sunday, which is coming off back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
