Texas Tech Red Raiders forward Lejuan Watts (3) controls the ball against Duke Blue Devils forward Cameron Boozer (12) during the first half at Madison Square Garden. Brad Penner-Imagn Images

No. 19 Texas Tech hands No. 3 Duke first loss of season in historic comeback

By Samuel Stubbs | Last updated Dec 20, 2025 11:02 PM ET

No. 3 Duke (11-1) is unbeaten no more.

Christian Anderson knocked down a free throw with 3.4 seconds to play, Cameron Boozer missed a three-pointer at the buzzer, and Texas Tech (9-3) walked away with perhaps the best win of the season so far in college basketball.

The Red Raiders trailed by 10 at halftime and by 17 with 16 and a half minutes to play.

The victory is a resume-defining one for Texas Tech, which had chances to earn marquee wins earlier in the season against No. 6 Purdue and No. 14 Arkansas but came up short. On Saturday, they put together their best performance of the year.

Texas Tech & Duke make different kinds of history

The win was the first for Texas Tech over a top-five team since they beat No. 1 Baylor on Jan. 11, 2022. It was the first time that Duke had blown a lead of 17 points since Feb. 4, 2007, when the Blue Devils, who had current head coach Jon Scheyer playing for them, fell 68-67 to Florida State in Durham.

TOUGHEST TEAM WINS ‼️#TTW | @7BCommercial pic.twitter.com/yuBXVbb7nP
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) December 21, 2025

"I'm feeling amazing," Anderson told ESPN. "We came back, Coach was preaching, 'we're gonna win this game.' That's what we did. Toughest team wins, that's our motto."

Anderson scored 23 of his 27 points in the second half, including the game-winning free throw to lead all scorers. JT Toppin added 19 for the Red Raiders, while Boozer led Duke with 23 points.

Anderson played all 40 minutes in a game that will go down as one of his defining evenings in a TTU uniform, and his team earned a win that will carry a significant amount of weight come March.

Samuel Stubbs

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

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