DaKari Spear Scores Career-High 22 as No. 16 Texas Tech Routs Stonehill 88-37

DaKari Spear came into Saturday with 11 college points to the freshman's name. Spear left United Supermarkets Arena with 22 more, a career high by a mile, and No. 16 Texas Tech turned a sleepy early-afternoon tip into an 88-37 demolition of Stonehill in front of 11,869.

Spear did almost all of the damage after halftime, scoring 18 of the 22 in the second half and hitting four of five 3-point tries in that half. Amari Barrett, another freshman who had played five minutes all season, posted 13 points and 10 rebounds. Jamichael Stillwell added 13 points and 12 boards for a second straight double-double, and the Red Raiders won the glass 59-24.

Texas Tech is 4-0. Stonehill fell to 1-3. The win was the 50th straight nonconference home victory for the Red Raiders, a streak Texas Tech's game preview said dates to 2020, and it moved Grant McCasland to 27-0 in those games.

A Brief Bit of Drama

For about seven minutes, this looked like a game. Ewan Steele opened the Stonehill scoring with a 3 and a layup to put the Skyhawks up 5-4. Eli Greenberg buried a 3 to tie it 8-8, Devon Arlington answered a Damarion Dennis layup with a jumper, and Greenberg's three-point play with 12:55 left in the half put Stonehill ahead 13-10.

That was the high-water mark, and it evaporated fast.

Stillwell scored inside. Dennis drilled a 3 off a Cruz Davis feed. Davis scored at the rim, Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn added a layup, and Dennis and Barrett kept getting to the basket. By the time Spear knocked down two free throws with 7:21 left, an 18-0 run had flipped a three-point deficit into a 28-13 lead. Stonehill went more than eight and a half minutes without a field goal, from Greenberg's and-one until Kemar Grant's layup at the 4:12 mark.

Barrett closed the half like a veteran. The freshman hit a 3 from Davis, made two free throws after grabbing an offensive rebound and finished a layup with 1:17 left. Texas Tech led 43-21 at the break, and Stonehill had shot its way into a deep hole.

The Turning Point: A 13-1 Welcome Back

If the Skyhawks had any notion of a second-half push, it lasted about three minutes. Gibbs-Lawhorn opened the half with a floater, Davis hit a 3 off a Stillwell assist, and Stillwell converted a three-point play. Arlington was then whistled for a technical foul at 16:40, and Gibbs-Lawhorn made both free throws.

Ten seconds later, Spear stepped back and splashed a 3. That made it 56-22, a 13-1 run to open the half in which Stonehill's lone point came on a Steele free throw. Spear hit another 3 at 14:45, this one from Davis, and the rest of the afternoon was about style points and minutes for the deep bench.

There were plenty of style points. Texas Tech ripped off a 13-0 run in the final eight minutes, starting with a Gibbs-Lawhorn layup at 7:50 and ending with a Spear driving layup at 4:57, and Spear capped the day with a dunk off a steal, then a 3 off a Marial Akuentok assist with 42 seconds left that made it 88-35. That 53-point margin was the biggest of the game. Danny Cheng's turnaround jumper with 13 seconds left set the final.

Spear and Barrett Grab Their Moment

The headline is Spear, and it should be. Entering Saturday, the freshman was averaging 3.7 points, with a best of eight in the opener against Jackson State and a scoreless night against Bethune-Cookman. Spear finished 6 of 9 from the field, 4 of 6 from 3 and 6 of 7 at the line in 25 minutes, adding six rebounds, a steal and a block. In a game where the rest of Texas Tech went 4 of 24 from deep, Spear was the only reliable shooter on the floor.

Barrett's line might be the more interesting one. Texas Tech's preview noted the freshman had logged five minutes in the opener and did not play against Bethune-Cookman or Illinois. On Saturday, Barrett played 27 minutes and posted a double-double: 13 points on 4 of 10 shooting, 10 rebounds, two assists, three steals and a perfect 4 of 4 at the line. That is not garbage-time production. Barrett had 11 of those points before halftime.

Stillwell, the fifth-year forward who arrived from UCF this summer, keeps doing exactly what McCasland needs. Stillwell went 6 of 8 from the field for 13 points and 12 rebounds in 31 minutes, following the 11-and-13 debut against Illinois.

Davis filled up the box score with 12 points, six rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block in 35 minutes. Dennis had 13 points and three steals, and Gibbs-Lawhorn scored 11 but needed 15 shots to get there, going 1 of 8 from 3.

The Numbers Behind the Rout

Start with the glass. Texas Tech outrebounded Stonehill 59-24 and grabbed 19 offensive boards to Stonehill's eight, which turned into a 21-4 edge in second-chance points. When a team shoots as poorly as Stonehill did, those misses have to go somewhere, and they almost all went to Texas Tech. The Red Raiders also owned the paint, 44-12, and the open floor, 18-4 on fast breaks.

Then the shooting. Stonehill made 13 of 54 field goals (24.1 percent), 4 of 27 from 3 (14.8 percent) and 7 of 18 at the free throw line. Arlington went 1 of 12 from the field and 0 for 7 from deep. Felipe Patino, who came in tied for the team lead at 11.0 points per game according to Texas Tech's preview, was held scoreless on 0 of 3 shooting.

Texas Tech shot 48.5 percent overall (33 of 68), made 14 of 17 free throws and forced 18 turnovers while collecting 11 steals, scoring 23 points off those giveaways. The 3-point shooting was the one blemish: 8 of 30, and half of those makes belonged to Spear. The Red Raiders also coughed it up 15 times, and Stonehill turned those into 16 points, which is close to half of its offense. That is the kind of sloppiness Louisville will punish.

The bench told its own story. Texas Tech's reserves scored 35 points, led by Spear and Barrett. Stonehill's bench actually outscored its starters, 21-16, which says more about the starters than the reserves.

Greenberg led the Skyhawks with eight points but also committed six turnovers. Trenton Ruth added seven, and Steele and Grant scored six apiece.

What It Means for Texas Tech

Let us be honest about the opponent. Stonehill, which moved up from Division II in 2022-23, went 12-21 last season and arrived in Lubbock off back-to-back 20-point road losses at Fordham and Columbia. Texas Tech's preview also noted that Friday's nationwide FAA ground stop disrupted the Skyhawks' travel and moved the start time. This was never going to be a measuring stick.

What it can be is a depth test, and McCasland learned something. Darrion Williams and Donovan Atwell, two of the rotation regulars from the 84-78 win over No. 3 Illinois, did not play, and neither the box score nor Texas Tech's materials gave a reason. In their place, two freshmen combined for 35 points and 16 rebounds. With JT Toppin still rehabbing and the rotation short in the season's first week, that is the most useful development of the day.

It is a sharp contrast to the 76-58 win over Bethune-Cookman, when McCasland played only eight players and Spear went scoreless in seven minutes. Combined with the 76-42 opener against Jackson State, Texas Tech has now held three of its four opponents under 60 points.

The schedule is about to get serious. Texas Tech hosts New Orleans on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN+, then heads to Las Vegas for the Players Era, opening against Louisville on Nov. 24.

The Take

Blowouts like this are only as useful as what a coach can take from them, and McCasland got real information. Spear proved the freshman can shoot it at this level, Barrett proved the freshman can rebound and defend with starters' minutes, and Stillwell proved the double-double against Illinois was not a fluke. Texas Tech still needs a steadier perimeter shot from Gibbs-Lawhorn and fewer careless turnovers, but a ranked team with a thin bench just found two more bodies it can trust. That matters a lot more in Las Vegas than it did on Saturday.

Full numbers are in the official box score (opens in a new tab), and Texas Tech's game preview (opens in a new tab) has the background on both teams.

Sources: Texas Tech Athletics box score and game preview, CBS Sports play-by-play. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Gabby Hutter/Texas Tech Athletics (file photo from Nov. 5, 2026, vs. Bethune-Cookman).