In a game from the gods, Texas Tech played its way into a not-so-sweet 16-point second-half deficit against Arkansas, then played its way out. And then some. The gutsy and fun Red Raiders used a late bank shot from Darrion Williams and some great last-second defense to beat John Calipari’s Razorbacks, 85-83, in the first overtime game of this year’s NCAA Tournament. Tech now advances to Saturday’s West Region final.
Tech, the No. 3 seed in the region, fell behind early by way of an offense built around missed layups and missed three-pointers. Lots of Red Raiders had off nights. Star guard Chance McMillian, who hasn’t played since suffering what he said was an oblique strain in the early rounds of the Big 12 tournament, didn’t even dress for the Arkansas game. Senior guard Elijah Hawkins played all 45 minutes for Tech, but went 0-9 from the field in regulation, including 0-6 from three. Kerwin Walton, who had eight threes while putting up a team- and career-high 27 points a week ago in Tech’s tournament-opening win over North Carolina-Wilmington, was benched early against Arkansas and finished with zero points.
Arkansas guard Johnell Davis and forward Karter Knox combined for 50 points, with the latter going 4-4 from three on the night. Tech only kept Arkansas within reach because of some better-than expected performances from youngsters. Freshman guard Christian Anderson had 22 points, or more than double his season average, including 17 in the second half. And gangly Finnish frosh center Federiko Federiko had a great great night on the glass, gathering seven offensive rebounds while coming off the bench to give frequent breathers to Tech’s Big 12 player of the year, J.T. Toppin.
Even so, Tech was down by 13 with less than five minutes left. But then Anderson and Williams went wild, scoring all of Tech’s points in the Red Raiders’ regulation-closing 16-3 run. Anderson nailed three three-pointers down the stretch. Arkansas forward Jonas Aido kept hope alive for the Lubbockites by missing the front end of a one-and-one with Calipari’s team up by just three and under 30 seconds remaining. After running some time off the clock, Hawkins fed Williams, who drained a shot from beyond the arc with 9.7 seconds on the clock to tie things up. To overtime they went.
Hawkins, a product of DeMatha High School of the powerhouse D.C. Catholic league, may have missed every shot he took in regulation, but he went 1-1 from distance in OT to put his team up by one with a little under three minutes remaining. The teams traded buckets and leads in the extra period, with Arkansas guard D.J. Wagner knotting things up for the last time at 83 all with a layup with 34 seconds on the clock. On what would be Tech’s last possession of the night, the bulky Williams lowered a shoulder and barged into Knox in the paint. Williams then made a spin move to his left and launched a short one-hander hard off the backboard. The ball kissed off the glass, bounced a couple times along the rim, and fell through the net to give his team a two-point lead. Hawkins hounded Wagner on a frenzied run down the court over the remaining seconds, putting a hand in the Razorback shooter’s face as he let a 15-footer fly and the game in the balance. The shot fell short just after the final buzzer sounded.
And thanks to what’s being hailed as the second-largest comeback in the history of the Sweet 16, Tech is alive.
Back to me: I went to Texas Tech in the 1980s. I’d followed the school’s teams casually for most of the years since leaving Lubbock. But the relationship started getting serious again a little over a decade ago, when my two children started becoming sports fans. From the start my kids proclaimed Texas Tech loyalties. Maybe it was to please me, since they obviously knew I’d gone there. Or because the school’s color scheme and logo really are great. And surely their fandom for teams from a distant land had something to do with all our local professional squads being lousy and unlikable at the time. But whatever the reason, pretty quickly they were rooting harder for Tech’s football and basketball teams than I had in decades. And they made me care again. We care a lot. And we’ve been rewarded for our family fandom. The Tech football team, a Southwest Conference cellar dweller in my student days, has had great offenses year after year and guys like Patrick Mahomes running ‘em. The hoops program, which was an afterthought during my days on the football-crazy South Plains, has somehow turned into a perennial Big 12 title contender. The Red Raiders’ run to the NCAA finals in 2019, despite ending with a loss to UVA, was fantastic for all of us. Then came a year with Mac McClung as the face of Tech hoops, which, like the player’s portfolio, featured more cool highlights than meaningful wins, but nonetheless provided lots of great father/son bonding opportunities.
My younger son is a freshman in high school now and lives at home. My eldest is a freshman in college (not Tech!), but he’s on spring break this week and back in D.C. So last night’s Arkansas game was the first time this season we were able to watch together. And we had us a time. There were some rough spots, since Tech fell behind before the pregame pizza and wings were devoured, and stayed there. By the second half “we” were down so far to the Razorbacks and I was in so foul a mood that I got up from the living room couch and took a seat at the dining room table. From the other room I could only see maybe half of the TV screen. But I could still see my boys’ faces as they watched, and hear the broadcast, and so I was able to keep up with the game.
And, hell if Tech didn’t begin its comeback just after I’d relocated. And since we all kind of felt my move was responsible for Tech’s reversal of fortune, I didn’t dare get out of my seat, let alone attempt to reclaim a spot on the couch. I wouldn’t have been welcomed back even if I’d tried. “Stay in there!” my younger son yelled at me after an Anderson three-pointer shrank the Arkansas lead even more.
Years ago, while trying to explain to my kids what I loved about watching sports, I told them that the best sporting moments feel like destiny. This game fit that bill. When Williams swooped to his right just before taking the biggest shot of his life, he left the half of the screen in my line of sight. But by then I felt like I didn’t need to see him. I knew what was coming. Well, as long as I didn’t anger the gods by leaving my lucky, half-sightless seat, that is.
So I stayed put. And hell if the desired outcome, the destiny, didn’t manifest. When the final buzzer sounded I ran back into the living room and the three of us screamed and jumped around and chest bumped and otherwise celebrated like we’d won a war. I’m hoarse as hell now. But I’m such a lucky guy. What a great night.
The Red Raiders will play top-seeded Florida in the West Regional final on Saturday. I can’t wait. We can’t wait.
