Tougher Team Wins: Texas Tech Advances to the Elite Eight in Historic Win

Picture: AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

Down sixteen in the second half, down thirteen with 4:43 to play, down six with 1:15 left, Texas Tech never wavered. Coach Grant McCasland’s mantra of “Toughest Team Wins” shined on Thursday night at the Chase Center in San Francisco, where the Red Raiders battled for 45 minutes in their win over Arkansas to advance the Red Raiders to the Elite Eight on Saturday night.

No. 10 seed Arkansas came out on fire with Karter Knox drilling three early threes for the Razorbacks as they jumped out to an early lead. A team who shot 33% from three up until Thursday night, the Razorbacks went out and shot 7-14 from three in the first half; while the Red Raiders who as a team shot 37.9% from three for the season, shot just 3-16 from three in the first half with second-leading scorer Darrion Williams shooting 2-12 in the first half. With everything going the Razorbacks’ way, McCasland told his team: “We’re still winning, see how many they can make, let’s see how far we can get down and still win this game” he said on Field of 68: After Dark. The Red Raiders went into half trailing 38-31, with nothing going their way, McCasland dared the Razorbacks to keep shooting.

The Red Raiders came out the second half and with fans thinking to themselves that Tech would start making shots they missed their first eight three-pointers of the half. A Billy Richmond III layup gave the Razorbacks a 61-45 game lead with 10:23 left to play in the second half and it seemed as if the Red Raider’s chances were dwindling. But one possession turned this game around for Texas Tech, following a Federiko Federiko missed free throw, Kevin Overton came down with an offensive rebound, then a missed layup, another Overton offensive rebound, a missed jumper from Overton led to a Federiko rebound, a kick out three from Christian Anderson missed but Federiko came down with the rebound, back out to Elijah Hawkins who missed but Federiko once again came down with the board, another Tech shot missed but Federiko tips it in to cut the lead to 61-50. Arkansas proceeded to call a time out and the Red Raiders had some life back in them. Eventually, cutting the lead back down to single digits, Nelly Davis of Arkansas who finished with 30 points would not go down without a fight as he took the game over stretching the lead to 69-56 with 4:43 left. An Anderson three on the following possession started the Red Raiders run, as Arkansas started missing, Tech finally saw their threes begin to drop. The lead got down to three when Knox hit his fourth three of the night to give the Razorbacks a six-point lead, but Anderson came right back at the Arkansas defense hitting a three of his own. With 27 seconds left, Razorbacks center Jonas Aidoo missed the front end of a one and one and the Red Raiders had a chance to tie; the Arkansas defense extended out and Tech couldn’t get a shot off until Williams put up a contested three that dropped. DJ Wagner missed a jump shot at the other end that would have won the game for Arkansas; Texas Tech had gone on a 27-11 run over the last ten minutes to send the game to overtime.

Overtime was a back-and-forth battle with Red Raiders All-American JT Toppin establishing himself in the pain scoring six points during overtime to give him 20 points on the night. But, the biggest three points of overtime came from Hawkins, the senior point guard was 0-9 from the field until he hit a transition three that lit up the Red Raiders bench. Texas Tech’s lead got to as big as three in overtime before Trevon Brazile tied the game at 81. The teams traded baskets, and Texas Tech had possession with 34 seconds left and a chance to wind the clock down, Williams drove to the paint where he posted up Knox before spinning to his right hand and laying it up and in. A frantic Arkansas possession led to a fadeaway by Wagner over Hawkins that fell short. Texas Tech has won 85-83 and completed the second-largest comeback in Sweet Sixteen history.

It all comes back to “Toughest Team Wins”, many teams could have looked up at the scoreboard and thought that Arkansas would run away with it. But not the Red Raiders, they wanted the adversity, and they knew that their mental and physical toughness would prevail. The Red Raiders came down with 22 offensive rebounds (Federiko had seven of them), and outrebounded Arkansas 51-39 overall; McCasland also knew that the Red Raiders would hit their shots, and the Razorbacks would miss theirs; making five threes in the last four minutes of regulation and overtime the Red Raiders had caught fire, while Arkansas shot 3-11 from three in the second half and overtime.

A historic comeback and a game to remember not just for Texas Tech but for all basketball fans around the world. No month is better than March.