Second Round |
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Overall Record: 5-2 |
Since the Tournament expanded, Tech has done a good job of getting out of the first weekend if it can get past the first round. With a second-round record of 5-2, Tech has performed well when a birth in the Sweet 16 has been on the line.
That began in the famous 1996 second-round game against North Carolina. No one in Raiderland is soon to forget that game, a 92-73 drubbing of the Tar Heels, because that is the game in which Darvin Ham shattered the backboard on a putback dunk in the first half. Of course, that play landed him on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Tech wouldn't get back to the Sweet 16 until 2005, though. That year, the No. 6 seeded Red Raiders stunned the basketball world by taking down No. 3 seed Gonzaga in the second round. In the 71-69 win, point guard Ronald Ross came up huge with 24 points and nine rebounds to lead the team in both categories.
2018 saw the No. 3 seeded Red Raiders have a huge home-court advantage in Dallas over No. 6 seed Florida in the second round. The game came down to the final possession with Florida missing several attempts to tie the game with 3-pointers in the final ten seconds of a 66-63 Red Raider win.
A year later, the Red Raiders were also a No. 3 seed in the tournament and that year, they would roll No. 6 seed Buffalo 78-58. In that game, Jarrett Culver led a balanced attack with 16 points while Norense Odiase pulled down 15 big rebounds.
In 2021, the Chris Beard era of Texas Tech basketball came to an end in the second round with a 68-66 loss to Arkansas. In that game, Terrence Shannon Jr. and Kyler Edwards would both miss layups in the final minute that could have put Tech ahead or tied the game. Also, late in that game, Mac McClung would miss the front end of a crucial one-and-one opportunity at the free-throw line. Just days later, Beard would leave Texas Tech to take over at Texas.
Mark Adams' first year on the job, 2021-22, saw him take Tech all the way to the Sweet 16. That year, a tight and ugly 59-53 win over No. 11 seed Notre Dame in the second round kept the Red Raiders alive. Tech closed that game on a 10-1 run to come from behind late in the second half.