Tuesday night, the Texas Tech basketball team took an important step towards securing a No. 2 seed in next month’s NCAA Tournament by winning their 17-straight home game this season, the program’s 20th-straight home win overall. And making the evening even sweeter was the fact that Tech also got to enact some revenge on a team that had beaten them earlier this month.
Back on February 9th, the Red Raiders played what has to be considered their worst game of the season to date in a 70-55 loss to Oklahoma in Norman. That day, the Sooners were out of their minds from 3-point range going 13-28 (46.6%) as a team from beyond the arc as the Red Raider defense could find no way to stop OU’s long-range barrage.
So Tuesday night’s return game in Lubbock was a chance for retribution. It was an opportunity to prove that what happened two weeks ago was an anomaly, while also proving which team is the superior squad.
Tech did that in resounding fashion with a 66-42 win that was not as close as even the lopsided final score would indicate. And in the process, the Red Raiders helped themselves move up the chain just a bit on the national scene.
That’s because also on Tuesday night the Villanova Wildcats were in action on the road at UCONN. The Wildcats entered that contest ranked No. 8 in the national polls and seeded No. 9 overall in the first NCAA Tournament bracket preview, which was released on Saturday. Thus, in both the polls and the preview, the Wildcats were one spot ahead of the Red Raiders.
In what was a back-and-forth affair, Villanova would fall to the Huskies 71-69 thanks to a late off-balance layup by UCONN guard R.J. Cole who scored the game-deciding bucket with 5.9 seconds remaining. It was truly a blown opportunity for Nova as they fumbled away a 69-65 lead in the final minute of play.
Thus, Texas Tech may now have inched its way past the Wildcats in the overall standings of college hoops, at least for the time being. Assuming that the selection committee will adjust the seedings to reflect Villanova’s loss, Tech could be one step closer to being a No. 2 seed when the next bracket preview is released this Saturday and if they already were a No. 2 seed in the committee’s eyes, they could now be a higher No. 2 seed meaning they would be in the bracket of one of the lesser No. 1 seeds.
What’s more, Tech might benefit from some Big 12 chaos this weekend. That’s because the Baylor Bears, who were the No. 5 overall seed in last week’s tournament preview, are playing Kansas in Waco Saturday night. While winning on Baylor’s home court is never easy, it isn’t impossible and KU could very well go into the Ferrell Center and steal a win. While that would essentially wrap up the regular-season Big 12 title for the Jayhawks, it might also be the best outcome for Tech as it would help the Red Raiders jump the Bears in the eyes of the selection committee, provided that Tech doesn’t stub a toe in Fort Worth against TCU on Saturday evening.
But for now, Tech is trending in the right direction as we enter the middle of February’s final week. And that’s why Tuesday’s game was so important for the Red Raiders.
Beating the Sooners was not a Quad-1 win so that game will not carry huge weight for Tech on Selection Sunday. But losing to OU would have had potentially disastrous results as it could have cost Tech a shot at a No. 2 seed as well as costing Mark Adams’ team a chance to play in Fort Worth for the first weekend of the Big Dance.
So let’s look back at Tuesday’s drubbing and examine three factors that played a key role in Tech’s easy victory. And we will begin by looking at how Tech shut down OU’s best weapon.