by Christian Hay and Nathan Boles
In a March Madness full of upsets, the Texas Tech men’s basketball team got as far away from one as they could as they defeated Montana State 97-62 Friday at Viejas Arena in San Diego, California.
The Red Raiders, a 3-seed, advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament where they will play Notre Dame on Sunday.
It was Tech’s highest margin of victory in an NCAA Tournament game in program history and the highest-scoring game for Tech this season, according to Tech Athletics.
While Viejas Arena was not full of Texas Tech fans, they made their presence felt. Before the team introductions and the national anthem, chants of “Raider, Power” sang out through the stands.
Texas Tech started the game how they seem to start most games: a defensive stop.
Terrence Shannon Jr. blocked a Montana State mid-range jumper, and they never looked back.
Tech then allowed Montana State to score, but after that, they didn’t look back. Montana State had just three points in the first four minutes of the game along with three turnovers.
Tech was able to gallop down the court all throughout the first half and scored 17 points off of turnovers, 11 of those on fast breaks.
This is not to say that the Tech defense was not tried, though.
Seniors Bryson Williams and Kevin Obanor, both 6’8”, were tasked with guarding 5’8” Montana State guard Xavier Bishop at times. The no-middle rotational defense, in theory, should have benefited MSU greatly with small, quick guards.
Texas Tech was able to stick with Bishop throughout the game and held him to just 12 points in 27 minutes of play.
Speaking of Williams and Obanor, both finished the day in double digits in the points column. Williams had a team-high 20, tied with Shannon, and Obanor had 10 of his own.
It was not just those three doing the scoring though for the Red Raiders as six total Tech players finished with double-digit points.
Obanor, senior Davion Warren and junior Kevin McCullar all had 10 points, and senior Adonis Arms had 15 points as they shared the ball well to allow Tech to have their highest-scoring game of the season.
“I feel like everyone was unselfish,” Shannon said about the team’s offensive performance. “Nobody was hurrying shots. We did a good job moving the ball, and when we play unselfish and selfless, we’re a pretty good team.”
Coming into March Madness, many people’s concerns with Tech would be scoring the basketball, but that was not a problem Friday.
Going into the half, Tech was shooting 72% from the field and a staggering 70% from behind the arc.
In the KenPom rankings, Texas Tech has the 48th most efficient offense but the most efficient defense in the country.
The defense has helped put them in the spot that they are in now as one of the top 12 teams in the tournament, but it seems as if the offense is coming alive at the right time.
Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle said he felt like Tech was guarding him.
“I couldn’t even see my play card,” Sprinkle said. “They literally – that’s the best defensive team in the country for a reason.”
Coming out after halftime, Texas Tech kept the pressure applied on defense and the scoring continued. They also outrebounded Montana State 33-24.
These rebounds helped give more second-chance opportunities which Tech was able to capitalize on by scoring 12 second-chance points.
Williams really took off in the second half, scoring 12 of his 20 points despite being subbed out with nearly 14 minutes left in the game.
Tech head coach Mark Adams, credited as a defensive genius and the architect of Tech’s no-middle defense, said he was extremely happy with the way they were able to score all game.
“Anytime we’re shooting the ball that well, it’s hard for me to take credit for that,” Adams said. “When they’re shooting the ball, shooting 3s, easy, winning comes a lot easier, and you don’t have to rely on that defense as much.”
Adams is off to a good start in his first year as head coach. He already passed Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight for most wins as a first-year coach at Tech, and it’s Adams’ first March Madness win as a head coach.
Adams and Texas Tech will try to build on the first-round win and try to get Tech to their third Sweet 16 appearance in four tournaments with a win over Notre Dame on Sunday.
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