Overtime win over No. 5 Houston was No. 19 Texas Tech basketball ...

Even while the Texas Tech basketball team was riding a five game winning streak, it felt like something was missing.

It's hard to nitpick a team that had won four straight games by 10 points or more, but for the past two weeks, the Red Raiders appeared to be playing with their food. The opposition wasn't the best through the first nine games of Big 12 Conference play. Just two of Tech's first seven league wins came against teams with winning conference records entering the weekend.

Texas Tech, more or less, has been able to out-talent the opposition, which hasn't always been the case in Lubbock. Take wins however you can get them, sure, but it appeared the Red Raiders still had another gear to reach.

All it took to get there was having JT Toppin and coach Grant McCasland ejected in the first four minutes of Texas Tech's most challenging game of the season to get there.

For the next 41 minutes of game time, including overtime, on the road at No. 5 Houston, which boasts the best defense in the country, the 19th-ranked Red Raiders proved they had more to give. That they could dig deep and become an upper-echelon team when the moment called for it.

"In overtime, we just all agreed that we're not losing this," said Chance McMillian, who tied his season-high of 23 points. "It was really a collective effort and total team buy-in."

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Statistically speaking, beating Houston 82-81 in overtime isn't the most impressive win in program history. Just last year Tech manhandled sixth-ranked Kansas at home. And the Red Raiders had a road win over then-No. 1 Baylor in the 2021-22 season, which ended in an appearance in the Sweet 16.

Ignoring the numbers attached to the teams involved, though, this may have been Tech's best win in quite some time. It's certainly the biggest one in McCasland's tenure.

"I've been a part of some games in my life," McCasland said, "but I can't remember being part of one like this. It's like the most beautiful picture of what being part of a team really is about."

Houston won both of last season's meetings by identical 23-point margins. The Cougars had seven wins of 20 points or more during their 13-game winning streak.

With Toppin and McCasland gone, Kevin Overton out before the opening tip, Darrion Williams returning from an ankle injury and Eemeli Yalaho forced into extended duty for the first time in months, it would've been easy, even understandable, if the Red Raiders packed it in.

Nobody would've faulted Tech for losing at Houston as a fully healthy team. Add in the absences and foul trouble to Williams and Federiko Federiko, nothing would've been more understandable.

Instead, the Red Raiders proved their gumption, their improved defense, their offensive variety they can beat teams with. Saturday was Texas Tech basketball at its absolute best.

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Texas Tech is now 8-2 in Big 12 play, the best record through 10 league games in program history, while riding a six game winning streak. The offense remains one of the best in the country, ranking eighth in offensive efficiency at KenPom shortly after the win over Houston.

The Red Raiders ended three separate winning streaks for Houston, the Cougars entering Saturday's game winners of 13 straight, 33 straight at home and 18 in a row in Big 12 games.

Through Saturday, Houston and Arizona each only have one loss in Big 12 games. Both of those losses came to Texas Tech.

A few weeks ago, McCasland got emotional talking about McMillian's leadership, noting his willingness to be coached hard. In exchange, McMillian would ensure his coach didn't lose the locker room.

After being tossed for his second technical protesting Toppin's ejection, McCasland went into the team huddle, amping up his players as they geared up for a long night without their coach.

The players embodied that fighting spirit, battling back from a six-point deficit in the final 3:49, getting the game into overtime on a 3-pointer and blocked shot from Darrion Williams.

It was only fitting that it was McMillian who finished off the upset win, scoring six of the team's 10 points in overtime, including the game-tying and game-winning free throws with 16.5 seconds left.

The fighting spirit hasn't always been there for the Red Raiders, but it was on Saturday. And it resulted in the biggest win of the McCasland era, one that could propel Texas Tech even further than thought before.

"It definitely sends a message throughout the Big 12," McMillian said, "just that we're here and we're not gonna back down."