LUBBOCK, Texas — Darrion Williams had a perfect night for Texas Tech, and the Red Raiders never trailed in a lopsided 79-50 victory over sixth-ranked Kansas that saw Bill Self ejected for the first time as the Jayhawks‘ head coach.
The 29-point loss Monday matched Kansas’ largest against an unranked opponent in the AP Poll era (since 1948-49), the other being against Kentucky in 1950.
It was the 33rd time this season that an AP top-10 team lost on the road to an unranked opponent, already the most through the month of February in a single season in AP Poll history.
Williams, a sophomore transfer from Nevada, scored a career-high 30 points on 12-of-12 shooting, including four 3-pointers. He also made both of his free throws and had 11 rebounds.
“Give him credit because [of] his work habits and his belief in this team. … I do believe the game rewards those people that play it to win,” Red Raiders coach Grant McCasland said. “What an awesome combination he was tonight of scoring and facilitating and rebounding and just winning.”
Williams’ 12 field goals without a miss were the most against a ranked opponent in AP Poll history. He was also the first player in the past 25 seasons with 30 points, 10 rebounds and a perfect shooting percentage against a ranked opponent.
Williams hit a 3 on the first shot of the game for the Red Raiders (18-6, 7-4 Big 12). They made 8-of-12 from long range over the first 13 minutes to jump ahead 27-14.
It was a frustrating night for Kansas (19-6, 7-5), which played its second game in a row without Big 12 leading scorer Kevin McCullar Jr., and with guard Dajuan Harris Jr. not at full strength after rolling his left ankle late in a 64-61 home win over 12th-ranked Baylor two days earlier.
“We’re beat up and tired right now,” Self said.
Self got his first ejection in 21 seasons at Kansas with 5:49 remaining after getting two technical fouls following an offensive foul call against Hunter Dickinson, though that wasn’t the only thing that bothered the coach.
“I didn’t curse him, I didn’t yell. But I did say a magic word, I guess, multiple times that got me a couple of technicals,” Self said. “I really wasn’t trying to get thrown out. But, you know, the way things [were] with the game, I honestly feel the game’s not being called the way it needs to be called, regardless of its our favor or their favor, it makes no difference to me.”
The last time Self was ejected was when he was with Tulsa against Wyoming in 1999.
Pop Isaacs made all four free throws after Self left the court for a 63-43 lead. Warren Washington had 11 points for Tech in only 20 minutes. He was limping when he came out of the game with just over 16 minutes left, but returned about eight minutes later and had a dunk before departing for good.
Nicolas Timberlake and Johnny Furphy each had 13 points for Kansas. Harris finished with seven points on 2-of-8 shooting, while Dickinson was limited to five points while missing 10 of his 12 shots.
McCullar, who averages 19.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game, is in his second season with the Jayhawks. He was part of two NCAA tournament teams while playing 79 games in three seasons at Texas Tech from 2019 to 2022.
Without McCullar and with Harris not completely healthy, the Jayhawks shot a season-low 32.7% (17-of-52) from the field. Their 50 points were also their fewest this season and fewest in a road game under Self. Their big guys, Dickinson and KJ Adams, were a combined 3-of-23 from the field.
The 29-point margin matched Texas Tech’s largest over the Jayhawks. The other was 91-62 five years ago, also at home. None of the current Red Raiders players was on the roster then.
Unranked Big 12 teams are 9-3 at home against top-10 teams this season.
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.