Red Raiders get to Sweet 16

Jarrett Culver and Zhaire Smith, the highest-scoring freshman duo in Texas Tech history, have led the Red Raiders to the Sweet 16.

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Culver and Zhaire Smith, whose 360-degree alley-oop dunk is already one of the highlights of this year’s tourney, are the highest-scoring freshman duo in Texas Tech history.

“On the first day or the second day he got the job, he offered me, so I felt like that spoke volumes to me,” Culver said of second-year coach Chris Beard.

“Even though I’m a homegrown Lubbock person, he just recruited me hard and stayed on me, and wanted me bad. The things that he was saying about the culture he’s building and stuff, I felt like that would be good, and I felt like this was the best fit.”

Texas Tech (26-9) is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2005, when Culver was only 6 years old and Beard was an assistant coach there for Bobby Knight. The Red Raiders play Purdue (30-6) in an East Region semifinal game Friday night in Boston.

Martin Zeno holds the school’s freshman scoring record with 413 points in 2004-05 as part of Tech’s last Sweet 16 team. Culver (402 points) and Smith (397) are now 2-3 on that list for the Big 12 runner-up that reached a program-best No. 6 ranking in the AP poll in February.

“Them just being able to play on big stages like this is great,” Tech’s All-Big 12 senior guard Keenan Evans said. “I didn’t go to the tournament my freshman year, I wasn’t on a ranked team my freshman year, and I don’t know how I would have handled that. So it’s definitely good for them to learn that this early on.”