COLUMBUS - Bob Knight surveyed the stat sheet and shook his head.

''We had 13 turnovers and they had seven. They had 79 shots and we had 53,'' the Texas Tech coach said. ''If I saw those stats before the game I would have gone back to Lubbock.''

Knight still went home with a win.

Andre Emmett had 27 points and Texas Tech beat Ohio State 80-72 Sunday in Knight's return to his alma mater.

Knight had not led a team into Columbus since the next-to-last team of his 29 seasons at Indiana was beaten 73-56 five years ago - his most lopsided loss ever against Ohio State. He had lost three in a row against the Buckeyes.

An older, mellower Knight said he had come to grips with his ties to Ohio State.

''I've never really forgotten about all Ohio State has done for me - when I was here as a student and what it enabled me to do after that,'' said Knight, class of 1962. ''I have felt deep down more for Ohio State than any of the schools I've coached.''

Knight may be older and mellower, but his players still know he has little tolerance for defeat.

''Coach was happy to come back home like anybody would be, so we wanted to come out today and play well to keep him in a good mood,'' said Ronald Ross, who had 15 points and seven assists for the Red Raiders (12-2).

Devonne Giles added 17 points and Robert Tomaszek had 10 points for Texas Tech, which has beaten three Big Ten opponents in the last 13 days. The Red Raiders defeated Iowa 65-59 in Dallas and pounded Minnesota 90-73 on New Year's Day in Lubbock.

Emmett hit 10-of-19 shots from the field, 7-of-9 free throws and added 11 rebounds.

''We had no answer for Emmett - then again, a lot of teams haven't had an answer for him,'' Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien said. ''Emmett is the best player we've played against and is maybe the best player in the country.''

Nick Dials, a freshman walk-on given a scholarship just before the season started, led Ohio State (8-5) with 15 points. J.J. Sullinger added 12 and Tony Stockman 10.

All three had horrible shooting days, combining to go 12-of-43 from the field.

Texas Tech came in holding opponents to 40.8 percent shooting and continually frustrated the Buckeyes as they forced the ball inside to big men Velimir Radinovic, Terence Dials and Shun Jenkins - who frequently missed close shots in heavy traffic. The Buckeyes made just 32.9 percent of their shots and their big men combined to hit 8-of-20 from the field.

''We got a lot of great looks but the story of the game was we shot poorly,'' Radinovic said.

Ohio State was 26-of-79 from the field to the Red Raiders' 32-of-53 (60 percent).

The Red Raiders took their first lead on Emmett's 14-foot jumper at 18:01 of the second half, part of a 6-0 run. The Buckeyes missed their first six shots of the half.

A 3-pointer by Nick Dials with 10 minutes left gave Ohio State a 52-47 lead but Tech countered with a 10-0 run. Emmett capped it by hitting the first of two free throws and then following his miss with a putback that made it 57-52.

''Andre always is going to step up for us,'' Ross said. ''He does a lot of things for us other than scoring. We can always rely on him.''

The Buckeyes drew as close as 61-60 on Ugo Nwankwo's baseline jumper with 4:33 left, but Tomaszek followed with a 15-footer, Ross hit a layup off a backdoor pass from Tomaszek, Emmett scored on a drive and Jarrius Jackson made a layup to make it 69-60.

The Red Raiders never let the lead drop below six points again.

''Ohio State played as well in the first half as anyone we've played this year,'' Knight said. ''In the second half we played the best basketball we have all year. We had to play pretty well to win.''