It is a huge day for the Texas Tech basketball team. In Wichita, Kansas, the Red Raiders will take on No. 11 seed Drake for the right to advance to next week's Sweet 16.
This is the first time since 2022 that Tech has reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. That year, the program was under the leadership of Mark Adams. In the second round of that tournament, Tech had to grind out a 59-53 win over Notre Dame.
That season, the matchup with the Fighting Irish was a meeting between a No. 3 seed (Texas Tech) and a No. 11 seed (Notre Dame) as will be tonight's game with Tech once again being the No. 3 seed. And we might be in for another rock fight similar to that second-round game from three years ago.
That's because Drake makes it a point to try to slow down games in order to mask its offensive talent deficiencies. In fact, Drake plays slower than any team in the country as the Bulldogs rank last in the country in possessions per game at 62. Meanwhile, Texas Tech plays much faster, averaging 70.9 possessions per game (142nd nationally).
When the Bulldogs look to score, they turn to their top guard, Bennett Stirtz, a 6-foot-4 junior guard who averages an impressive 19.2 points and 5.6 assists per game. In the first round, he posted 21 points and four assists in an upset win over No. 6 seed Missouri.
That wasn't the first time this season that Stirtz has had a big game against a team from a power conference, though. In the regular season, he scored 21 points as Drake beat Miami out of the ACC and he had a 22-point game when his team took down Big 12 member, Kansas State.
Where Drake might run into trouble, though, is that Stirtz is really their only offensive weapon. That's because their only other double-digit scorers, forward Daniel Abreu and guard Tavion Banks average just 10.2 and 10.0 points per game respectively. Thursday, against Missouri, Stirtz was the only starter for Drake to score in double figures. What's more, only one other Bulldog, backup guard, Banks, managed to score over seven points (Banks had 15).
Thus, the Red Raiders will likely throw plenty of defensive attention at Stirtz today and force other Bulldogs to beat them. It will be interesting to see if the Red Raiders can slow down this dynamic guard who can take over games.
This is the opportunity Tech has been playing for, though. Beat a No. 11 seed from a mid-major conference and you punch your ticket to the second weekend of the tournament. There's no doubt Texas Tech fans across the country will be tuning in and here's all the game information they need before tipoff.
Texas Tech vs. Drake broadcast information
Location: Wichita, Kansas
Venue: INTRUST Bank Arena
Tip: 5:10 p.m., Saturday, March 22
TV: TNT
TV CALL: Tom McCarthy, Steve Smith, Debbie Antonelli, AJ Ross
Westwood Radio: Ted Emrich, Casey Jacobson (XMSirius 211)
TEXAS TECH SPORTS NETWORK: Geoff Haxton (play-by-play), Chris Level (analyst)
Texas Tech vs. Drake series history
This is the first meeting between the two programs.
Texas Tech vs. Drake odds
Odds courtesy of FanDuel.com.
Favorite | Moneyline | Over/Under |
|---|---|---|
Texas Tech +6.5 | Drake +235 | 126.5 |
Texas Tech vs. Drake game notes
All game notes courtesy of TexasTech.com.
- Kerwin Walton led Tech in its opening-round win, scoring a career-high 27 points after going 8-for-19 on 3-pointers. His eight 3-pointers established a new program record in the NCAA Tournament while the team set a new program tournament record with 13 made 3-pointers and an overall program record with 46 3-point attempts.
- Walton has now scored in double figures in five straight games and is averaging 6.4 points per game this season after his career-high 27. Over the past five games, JT Toppin is averaging 20.8 points and 10.4 rebounds per game while Walton is scoring 15.0 per game and is 21-for-49 (42.9 percent) from 3-point range.
- Drake is second in the nation by limiting opponents to only 58.4 points per game this season after its 67-57 win over Missouri and is tied with Duke for the nation’s top winning percentage (91.2).
- The Bulldogs are on an eight-game winning streak after also winning the Missouri Valley Conference Championship with a 63-48 win over Bradley in the finals. Stirtz leads the nation by playing 39:21 minutes per game.
- As a program, Texas Tech is in its 21st NCAA Tournament and is now 20-21 all-time. Since NCAA Tournament expansion in 1985, Texas Tech is now 8-7 in First Round games. The Red Raiders were a No. 6 seed last season, falling 80-67 to NC State in the First Round in Pittsburgh. Tech advanced to the 2019 NCAA Final Four as a three-seed where it fell 85-77 in overtime to Virginia in the championship game. The Red Raiders have reached national prominence in recent years, making the NCAA Elite Eight in 2018, the final Monday night in 2019, and the 2022 Sweet 16. The program was also at its highest national seed at No. 3 – coming in 1996, 2018, 2019, and 2022.