Evans, bench, defense give Texas Tech win over Purdue
BOSTON — Having advanced further than any Texas Tech team ever has, the Red Raiders are one win away from returning to Texas for the Final Four.
Getting a big lift from its bench and its defense, Tech advanced to Sunday’s East Regional title game with a 78-65 victory over second-seeded Purdue. As he has throughout the tournament and for so much of the season, senior point guard Keenan Evans took over when it mattered.
Evans had just six points on 1-of-6 shooting when he nailed a 15-footer to put Tech up 56-51 with seven minutes to play. From that point, he delivered 10 points down the stretch to cement the victory.
“We just made the — what’s it called? The Great Eight?” coach Chris Beard asked his players at the postgame news conference.
“Elite,” Evans corrected him.
“The Elite Eight our second year together,” said Beard, who was with Arkansas-little Rock when it beat Purdue in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. “Why shouldn’t we? We’ve got a great university. We play in the best league in college basketball. We’ve got really great players. We’re blessed to be here, but I think we’ve earned the right to be here.”
With the win the Big 12 now has three teams playing this weekend with a chance to go to the Final Four, with Kansas and Kansas State joining Tech.
Tech (27-9) advances to face East top seed Villanova (33-4), which eliminated West Virginia in the first game Friday at TD Garden. The Wildcats lead Division I in scoring at 87 points a game. The winner advances to the Final Four in San Antonio.
To have a chance in slowing Villanova, Tech will need to duplicate the formula that worked so well against Purdue. The Red Raiders never really let Purdue, a team with a bevy of 3-point shooters, develop much of an offensive rhythm.
In all the gritty, gutty stats, Tech held the upper hand. The Red Raiders had a 15-2 edge in points off turnovers and 17-11 advantage on second-chance points.