Damarion Dennis Scores 22 in Debut as No. 19 Texas Tech Routs Jackson State 76-42

The first night of the post-JT Toppin era, at least for now, did not look like a team waiting around for anybody. Texas Tech opened its season Monday night at United Supermarkets Arena with a 76-42 demolition of Jackson State, and the man who did the most damage was not a returning name, not a starter, and not someone most of the Big 12 had circled in the offseason. It was Damarion Dennis, a Wyoming transfer from San Antonio, who came off the bench and dropped a career-high 22 points in his first game in scarlet and black.

The No. 19 Red Raiders improved to 1-0, extended their nonconference home winning streak to 47 games and won a season opener for the 27th straight year. Jackson State fell to 0-1 in the first game of Trey Johnson's tenure as head coach. The official box score (opens in a new tab) tells the story in two numbers: Jackson State shot 29 percent from the field and turned it over 24 times.

A Shaky Start, Then a Squeeze

For about two minutes, the SWAC visitors had the building's attention. Dorian McMillian buried a 3 in the opening seconds, Cruz Davis answered from deep, and McMillian hit another to put Jackson State up 6-3. That was as good as it got for the Tigers. Their largest lead of the night was three points, and it lasted about as long as it took Texas Tech to start pressing up the floor.

Texas Tech responded with a 12-1 burst, and Jackson State went more than four minutes without a bucket. Dennis supplied a 3 and a layup during the burst, and by the 12:28 mark Texas Tech was in front 15-7. The lead hit double digits for the first time at 22-12, and then the bottom fell out for the Tigers. A 13-0 Texas Tech run made it 35-16 with 2:12 left in the half, and the Red Raiders outscored Jackson State 16-2 over the final 6:31 before the break. Texas Tech piled up 12 steals on the night, and the turnovers came in bunches: dribbles poked loose, passing lanes jumped, outlets picked off before they reached half court. By halftime the scoreboard read 38-18.

The second half was more of the same. Texas Tech opened it on a 9-2 run, capped by another Dennis 3 that made it 47-20 at the 16:56 mark. The lead peaked at 38 when the Red Raiders went up 65-27 with 8:47 to play, and Grant McCasland emptied the bench from there. Texas Tech outscored the Tigers 38-24 after halftime. Nine Red Raiders scored. Five of them were reserves.

Damarion Dennis Introduces Himself

Dennis was the obvious headliner. The junior guard played 23 minutes and went 8-of-12 from the floor, 4-of-8 from 3 and 2-of-4 at the line, and he did it without a single turnover. He averaged 11.2 points at Wyoming last season while shooting 52 percent from the field, so the scoring itself is not a total shock. Doing it on night one, as the main source of offense on a ranked team, is a different thing.

Here is the stat that makes his night look even bigger: the rest of Texas Tech went 3-of-22 from 3. The Red Raiders finished 7-of-30 from deep as a team, which is 23 percent, and Dennis accounted for more than half of the makes. Donovan Atwell, last season's third-leading scorer at 13.5 points per game, went 0-of-8 from the field and 0-of-6 from 3. Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, the UNLV transfer who scored 20.7 a game in Las Vegas last season, was 2-of-8 overall and 1-of-7 from deep. On a night where the shooting from the projected starters was cold, Dennis was the guy who kept the offense from looking stuck.

Cruz Davis Ran the Whole Thing

If Dennis was the scorer, Cruz Davis was the engine. The Hofstra transfer, who averaged 20.1 points per game there a season ago, played 31 minutes and filled every column: 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting, 4-of-4 at the line, six rebounds, five assists and a career-high six steals. Zero turnovers. That line is about as clean as it gets.

Davis was the one setting the tone in the backcourt pressure, and Gibbs-Lawhorn chipped in three steals and four assists even on a rough shooting night. Together, the two new guards combined for nine steals and nine assists against two turnovers. That kind of perimeter defense is going to matter a lot more when the competition gets real.

Josiah Moseley gave the Red Raiders a physical presence off the bench, finishing with 13 points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes. Moseley went 4-of-6 from the floor and got to the line eight times, making five. DaKari Spear added eight points as another reserve. Texas Tech's bench outscored Jackson State's bench 47-15, and the bench by itself outscored the entire Tigers roster.

The Numbers Behind the Rout

The turnover battle was the game. Jackson State coughed it up 24 times, Texas Tech just 10. The Red Raiders also won the glass 37-33, including 10 offensive rebounds, and assisted on 14 of their 25 field goals while the Tigers managed seven assists all night.

Texas Tech shot 45 percent from the field (25-of-55), but went 18-of-25 inside the arc; the 3-point misses dragged the overall figure down. The free throw line was less kind. Texas Tech went 19-of-31, 61 percent, which is the type of thing nobody notices in a 34-point win and everybody notices in March.

Jackson State's offense never found a rhythm. McMillian scored 10 but needed 14 shots to get there, going 2-of-11 from 3 after those two early makes. Mike Williams led the Tigers with 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting, with five turnovers. Nikk Williams pulled down nine rebounds off the bench.

The biggest story on the Jackson State side was what did not happen. Daeshun Ruffin, the SWAC Preseason Player of the Year and a former Ole Miss guard who averaged 23.3 points per game last season, finished with five points on 1-of-3 shooting and five turnovers in 26 minutes. Texas Tech never let Ruffin get comfortable, and the result was a star scorer who barely got shots up.

What It Means Without JT Toppin

The context matters here. McCasland's program is two seasons removed from an Elite Eight run and carries nine newcomers this year. Toppin, the 2024-25 Big 12 Player of the Year and an All-America forward, is still rehabbing from a torn ACL suffered in February, and there is no timeline for a return. Texas Tech lost four of its final five games last season, including the Big 12 tournament opener and a Round of 32 loss to Alabama. The Red Raiders also lost a preseason exhibition to Kentucky 76-65 on Oct. 23, playing only eight guys.

So the question coming into the season was simple: who scores when the best player on the roster is in street clothes? One game against a SWAC team is not an answer, but it is a decent first draft. Davis looks like a real lead guard. Dennis looks like a legitimate bench weapon. Moseley gives McCasland a tough, rebounding forward who can live at the free throw line. And the defense, which has been the calling card of McCasland's program, looked like it travels no matter who is on the floor.

The concern is the shooting. Darrion Williams, back in Lubbock after a season at NC State, went scoreless from the field and finished with one point in 24 minutes. Atwell and Gibbs-Lawhorn combined for nine points on 2-of-16 shooting. A team that goes 3-of-22 from 3 outside of one player can beat Jackson State by 34. It will not beat the teams coming to Lubbock later this month that way.

The Texas Tech recap (opens in a new tab) frames it as a strong opening statement, and that is fair. The 12 steals and 24 forced turnovers were products of effort and scheme, the things a team can control while it waits on its star.

Up Next

Texas Tech stays home for a five-game homestand that opened with this one. Bethune-Cookman visits United Supermarkets Arena on Thursday, Nov. 5, and then the schedule gets serious with No. 3 Illinois coming to Lubbock on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Jackson State heads to Tulane on Thursday, Nov. 5, still waiting for Ruffin to find a rhythm under a new head coach.

The takeaway from opening night is that this version of Texas Tech is going to defend first and find offense by committee until Toppin is back. On Monday, the committee was mostly Damarion Dennis, and that was more than enough.

Sources: ESPN box score, Texas Tech Athletics, The Associated Press, Field Level Media. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Texas Tech Athletics.