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Texas Tech basketball classics: Revisiting Tech’s 2005 upset of Gonzaga

By Matthew Conner

BUFFALO, NY - MARCH 20: Bobby Knight, coach of Texas Tech talks to a referee during a game against St Josephs University on March 20, 2004 during the Second round of the NCAA Mens basketball Championships at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York.(Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty ImagesI)
BUFFALO, NY - MARCH 20: Bobby Knight, coach of Texas Tech talks to a referee during a game against St Josephs University on March 20, 2004 during the Second round of the NCAA Mens basketball Championships at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York.(Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty ImagesI) /
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The Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
The Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

Gonzaga helped the Red Raiders in a couple of important areas

Often, upsets require the favored team to spit the bit in at least one key area.  In this game, Gonzaga was terrible in actually two critical aspects of the game; free throws and 3-point shooting.

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At the foul line, the Bulldogs went just 9-18.  That proved to be a massive difference in the game.  It wasn’t that Tech was all that much better (just 9-16) but missed free throws were one of the reasons the Red Raiders were able to claw back into the game.

Remember that the Zags wanted to exploit their size edge inside.  But their edge in the post was somewhat negated by the fact that Turiaf and Batista were a combined 3-10 from the line.

Turiaf alone was 3-9 meaning that he was essentially the problem for his team.  He accounted for half of their attempts but also all but three of their misses.

What’s amazing is that he was actually an average free-throw shooter for his career, shooting 71.3% over his four years.  That year he was 68% from the line.

His .333% shooting at the line was his third-worst effort of that season and his six misses were a season-high.  That’s an aspect of the game in which Tech was extremely fortunate.

Speaking of fortune, Tech was somewhat lucky to see Gonzaga go just 2-13 from 3-point range.  Some of that had to do with Tech’s guards doing a good job of contesting shots as the quick Red Raiders were very active in chasing the Gonzaga shooters off of their spots.  However, the Zags also missed a number of open looks, especially Morrison, who the announcers said was actually a better shooter off the dribble rather than in spot-up situations.

As a team that season, Gonzaga shot 38% from behind the arc, good for 37th-best in the nation.  There were two main outside shooters for them that year, Morrison and Derek Raivio.  In fact, that duo combined for 287 of their team’s 408 3-pointers on the year.

Raivio was a 45.8% shooter from deep in 2004-05 and Morrison was a 31.1% shooter.  But against Tech, they went a combined 2-11 with each making just one 3-pointer.

Meanwhile, Tech was only 4-11 from deep with Ross going 2-6 and Jackson 2-4.  Still, Tech held a six-point edge from beyond the arc, which proved to be another important stat.

Must Read. The all-time Bob Knight era Texas Texas team. light

As every Texas Tech basketball fan knows, this March run ended one game later at the hands of West Virginia in the Sweet 16 in Albuquerque.  What’s more, Knight would only have one more NCAA Tournament game as head coach, a first-round loss to Boston College in 2007.  Thus, this 2005 win against Gonzaga to stun most of the country was Knight’s best moment in Lubbock and one of the most memorable Red Raider gams in program history.

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