Tag Archives: NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament

Sweet 16 thriller: Texas Tech rallies to beat Arkansas in overtime

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The Texas Tech Red Raiders rallied from a 16-point, second-half deficit to tie the game in regulation and then defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks 85-83 in overtime Thursday night in the NCAA Sweet 16.

North Texas coach Grant McCasland. North Texas beat UTSA 59-48 on Thursday, March 3, 2022, at the Convocation Center. - photo by Joe Alexander

Grant McCasland, shown here coaching North Texas in a game at UTSA in 2022, has led the Texas Tech Red Raiders to within one victory of a trip to the Final Four – File photo by Joe Alexander

With the win, the third-seeded Red Raiders moved into the Elite Eight round of the tournament against the No. 1 Florida Gators in the West Regional.

Tech will play Florida on Saturday in San Francisco, with the winner earning a ticket to the Final Four in San Antonio next week. Florida advanced by beating fifth-seeded Maryland 87-71 earlier in the afternoon.

Freshman Christian Anderson scored 22 points, and Darrion Williams and J.T. Toppin added 20 each for the Red Raiders. Williams, from nearby Sacramento, hit a game-tying three at the end of regulation and then hit the game-winner with about seven seconds left in OT.

Johnell Davis led the Razorbacks with a season-high 30 points.

The 10th-seeded Razorbacks, led by veteran coach John Calipari, played well for about 30 minutes and appeared poised to pull off their third upset of the tournament. When Billy Richmond III hit a driving layup with 10:23 remaining, Arkansas held a 61-45 lead.

From there, the Grant McCasland-coached Red Raiders started to do the little things, getting loose balls and offensive rebounds and grinding their way back into the game. Pretty soon, they generated momentum and started raining three-point shots, and the momentum shifted.

Anderson knocked down three of the long distance shots in a three-minute sequence at the end of regulation, the first coming at the 4:21 mark and the third at 1:07 to make it a three-point game. With nine seconds left, Williams nailed a three from the right wing to tie the score at 72-72.

In the overtime, Williams was fouled with 2:23 remaining and buried two free throws, boosting Tech into a 79-78 lead. The Red Raiders would never trail again. In the final 1:41, Toppin knocked down two baskets, which were answered by buckets from Arkansas’ Trevon Brazile and D.J. Wagner.

Wagner’s layup tied the game 73-73 with 34 seconds remaining. At the end, Williams backed down a defender and hit a shot from close range with seven seconds left for the game winner.

Records

Arkansas 22-14
Texas Tech 28-8

Notable

Texas Tech has reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019, when the program made it to the Final Four and the championship game under former Coach Chris Beard. Last season, in McCasland’s first as coach, the Red Raiders made the tournament but were eliminated in the round of 64.

Quotable

“In the huddle, coach said, ‘We’re going to find a way to win this no matter how much we’re down.’ I think (we were down) 16 with 10 minutes left or something. As a team, we had that look. We’re not losing this game no matter what, no matter if it’s defensive, offensive rebounds. We’ve got to get defensive rebounds, steals. We had to find a way to make it happen. And at the end we did, so that was it.” – Texas Tech guard Christian Anderson

Texas sneaks in to the field of 68, joining Houston, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Baylor in the NCAA men’s tournament

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Five teams from the state of Texas have made the 68-team NCAA men’s basketball tournament field. The biggest surprise was the 15-loss Texas Longhorns, who will play in the Midwest Region in a First Four, or, a round of 68 game, against Xavier (Ohio) on Wednesday night in Dayton, Ohio.

The Longhorns (19-15) are one of a record 14 teams from the Southeastern Conference to make the NCAA field.

Xavier (21-11) is a Big East team based in Cincinnati, Ohio, meaning the Musketeers will only need to travel about 48 miles to the game site at the Dayton Arena. The winner will advance to round of 64 on Friday against Illinois in Milwaukee.

Games involving Texas teams on Thursday will be:

*Big 12 regular season and tournament champion Houston (30-4) against SIU Edwardsville (22-11) at Wichita, Kan., in the Midwest region. The winner would get either Gonzaga or Georgia in the Round of 32;
*Texas Tech (25-8) against the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (27-7), also at Wichita, in the West. The winner would draw either Missouri or Drake in the Round of 32;
*Texas A&M (22-10) against Drake (22-7) at Denver, in the South. The winner would play either Michigan or UC San Diego in the Round of 32.

Games involving Texas teams on Friday will be:

*Baylor (19-14) against Mississippi State (21-12) at Raleigh, N.C. in the East. The winner would advance to play either top-seeded Duke or 16 seeds American or Mount St. Mary’s.

As many as seven teams from Texas could land NCAA bids

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The 11th-ranked University of Houston Cougars and the UT Arlington Mavericks on Sunday will try to join two other programs in the state of Texas as automatic qualifiers in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Prairie View A&M and Abilene Christian qualified Saturday with victories in their respective conference tournament finals.

For Prairie View, it will be the school’s first NCAA appearance in 21 years. Abilene Christian has never made the Division I national tournament.

When the bracket is revealed later today, three Texas-based Big 12 squads likely will make the field.

Texas Tech and Baylor are considered locks, while TCU is probably in, as well, according to bracket projection analysts.

UT Arlington, under first-year coach Chris Ogden, plays Georgia State today in New Orleans for the Sun Belt Conference’s automatic bid.

The Mavericks will not make the NCAA field unless they win, meaning that they have much more riding on their game today than the Cougars.

The Cougars, regular-season champions in the American Athletic Conference, are expected to make the Big Dance as an at-large entry even if they lose today.

Houston is playing in Memphis against 24th-ranked Cincinnati.

Saturday’s highlights

Prairie View rallied from a 13-point, first-half deficit to stun the Texas Southern Tigers, 92-86, in the Southwestern Athletic Conference title game at Birmingham, Ala. Both the Panthers and Tigers shot 55 percent in the second half. Guard Gary Blackston had 17 points and six steals for Prairie View. The Panthers secured the school’s second NCAA bid and its first since 1998.

Abilene Christian routed New Orleans 77-60 at Katy for the Southland Conference crown behind Jaren Lewis, who had 20 points, six rebounds and three steals. The Wildcats moved from NCAA Division II to Division I six years ago. Under terms of the transition, they were ineligible to play in the SLC tournament for the first four years.

Conference USA

Regular-season champion Old Dominion earned the NCAA automatic bid with a 62-56 victory over former San Antonio prep standout Charles Bassey and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.