Texas Tech basketball headed to Sweet 16 after blowing out Buffalo

Sunday in Tulsa, the Texas Tech basketball team advanced to its second-consecutive Sweet 16 with a 78-58 drubbing of the No. 6 seeded Buffalo Bulls.

Adherents to the belief that defense wins championships had to take special joy in watching the Texas Tech basketball team’s demolition of Buffalo Sunday in Tulsa.  Facing the No. 4 scoring team in the nation, the Red Raiders held the Bulls to 27 points below their season scoring average in a dominating 78-58 win in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

In advancing the the Sweet 16 for the second-consecutive season for the first time in program history, the Red Raider defense put on a clinic against a team that had scored at least 62 points in every game this season.  Chris Beard’s team forced Buffalo into 36.5% shooting from the field and 9-27 from the 3-point line frustrating a team that had won 13 consecutive games on the strength of an offense that had averaged 85.6 points per game since its last loss.

Meanwhile, all five Red Raider starters scored in double-digits led by Jarrett Culver’s 16 point, 10 rebound, five assist and two block-performance.  Senior forward Norense Odiase had arguably the best game of his career with 14 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.

According to Mark Cooper of the Tulsa World, it was the first double-double for Odiase since a 16-point, 10-rebound game in his collegiate debut back on November 14, 2014.  Along with Tariq Owens (10 points, seven rebounds), Odiase helped the Red Raiders control the paint against the small-ball oriented Bulls who tried unsuccessfully to spread the floor and rely on their 3-point shooting to create a tempo that Texas Tech could not sustain.

After struggling for most of the season to rebound the ball, the Red Raiders dominated the glass Sunday to the tune of 45-32.  And despite being one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the NCAA Tournament, Tech pulled down 15 offensive boards helping neutralize the high-powered Buffalo offense which was unable to find any rhythm at all as the Bulls spent far more time playing defense than they expected.

Before the first media timeout, Tech built a 10-2 lead thanks to four points each from Culver and Odiase.  But the Bulls responded to take their only lead of the game at 25-24 with 3:36 to play in the first half.

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However, the Red Raiders would respond with one of this season’s most impressive stretches of basketball.  From the 3:36 mark of the first half until the 12:21 mark of the second half, Tech held Buffalo without a field goal en route to a 27-5 run that put the game out of reach.

During that time, Buffalo missed eleven-consecutive shots including six from 3-point range.  The Bulls also missed four free throws in the scoring drought that ultimately sealed the game for the Red Raiders.  As if their struggles from the field were not bad enough, Buffalo also shot just 11-22 from the free throw line on an afternoon when the MAC champions had no answer for the Red Raiders.

Forward Nick Perkins led all scorers with 17 points to go along with ten rebounds.  But after scoring ten points in the first 13:26 of the game, the 6-foot-8 senior was held in check for the remainder of the game by Odiase and Owens, the former of which played over 25 minutes for only the third time this season as Chris Beard utilized a lineup with both big men on the court together far more than Tech fans have become accustomed to.

That change in philosophy allowed the Red Raiders to bully the shortest team in the NCAA Tournament for all 40 minutes.  In all, 13 of Tech’s 27 made shots came in the paint as the Bulls were unable to provide any resistance in the post.

Another key for the Red Raiders was their ability to keep the Buffalo transition game from being a factor.  Though Tech turned the ball over 14 times, only eight of those turnovers were of the live-ball variety and the Bulls managed just seven points off of those eight turnovers.

It was a humbling experience for a Buffalo team that entered the game confident that their offense would be more than the Red Raider defense could handle.

"“Their defense is rated, high,” Perkins said in Saturday’s press conference prior to round two, a video of which was posted by Brad Tollefson of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.  “They do it a little different but I don’t think they’ve played anyone like us all year.  You know, the Big 12’s a little different, you know, teams play a little slower.”"

But what Perkins and the rest of his teammates learned Sunday night is that, while the Big 12 is indeed different from the MAC, the glaring difference is not in the offensive abilities of Big 12 teams but in the type of defense that is played in what is the nation’s most rugged conference.  And when facing a Texas Tech team that is in the midst of a near historic defensive season, Buffalo found out in no uncertain terms that the Red Raider defense is a force that they were nowhere near ready to take on.