by Christian Hay
Just a day after No. 1 Baylor fell to 8-seed UNC and 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s made the Sweet 16, 3-seed Texas Tech made sure another upset in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament didn’t happen.
The Red Raiders defeated the 11th-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish 59-53 in the second round Sunday in San Diego to advance to the Sweet 16 against Duke.
It is only the second time that the schools have squared off. The first meeting was in 1975.
Back then, there was a bright young student at Texas Tech by the name of Mark Adams. He says he doesn’t remember the game, but he sure will remember this one.
With his 27th win of the season, Tech head coach Mark Adams continues to extend his record for the most wins in a single season for a first-year Tech head coach.
The Red Raiders are in their third Sweet 16 in the past four tournaments and eighth in program history.
In the first half Texas Tech shot just 38% from the field and an even worse 22% from deep.
This was not the same offensive team from two days ago, although Notre Dame is ranked 74th in defensive efficiency compared to Montana State at 145th, according to Kenpom.com.
This did not stop senior forward Kevin Obanor from securing his second double-double in as many games as he got 15 points and 15 rebounds.
Texas Tech was able to quadruple the Irish on points scored in the paint in the first half (16-4) but went into halftime up just one.
Stellar free throw shooting from Notre Dame helped them stay in the game as they did not miss one of their six attempts in the first half while Tech would miss all three of theirs.
This trend did not continue in the second half, though.
Texas Tech came out in the second half and shot lights out from the charity stripe with a stellar 93% in the second half as they finished the game shooting 76% on free throws overall.
Two of those free throws were made with under a minute left in the game by senior forward Marcus Santos-Silva.
Santos-Silva, a left-handed shooter, shot the game-icing free throws with his right hand.
While this isn’t the first time he has shot with his off hand from the line, it is impressive nonetheless.
Both halves started with a bucket from senior forward Bryson Williams, Tech’s leading scorer.
Williams would finish the game with 14 points and two steals, but surprisingly, none coming from deep.
With just under 13 minutes left in the game, junior guard Kevin McCullar would pick a Notre Dame pass for the steal and slam which ignited the Tech fans in attendance.
He says his game starts on the defensive end. He stayed true to his game even after picking up his fourth foul, which he says is because the team had his back.
Even after McCullar picked up his fifth foul and was out of the game, his team held strong for the win.
The second half of shooting mirrored the first half in every way except for free throws, and those free throws are what helped Texas Tech rise over the Irish.
The no-middle defense of Texas Tech is susceptible to the deep ball, but they were able to stand tall and only allow Notre Dame to hit 9 of their 28 three-point shots.
“We needed 11 [made three-pointers],” Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey said. “We needed double digits.”
Texas Tech will dance up the coast from sunny San Diego to the Golden City of San Francisco to face coach Mike Krzyzewski and the 2-seed Duke Blue Devils on Thursday at about 8:39 p.m. in Coach K’s final season.
Loading ...