USA TODAY International Edition
Texas Tech can wreak havoc on bracket
George Schroeder: Red Raiders show some high-level March basketball
TULSA, Okla. – When Texas Tech’s players and coaches talk about playing “March basketball,” you first need to understand that they’ve been talking about it since November. And mostly playing it since then, too.
And that it’s not only about the NCAA tournament, it’s more a hoops philosophy: defensive grit, offensive grind, and on both ends treating every possession as if it’s your very last.
Last weekend, we clearly saw its full devastating effect on an opponent’s hoop dreams — and how the Red Raiders are built to wreak havoc in the bracket.
In a 78-58 throttling of 6 seed Buffalo, Texas Tech turned an anticipated second-round matchup into a rout.
“I do believe that’s what coach (Chris Beard) is talking about when he says ‘March basketball,’ ” Texas Tech senior forward Tariq Owens said. “In my opinion, that was one of our toughest games of the season, especially considering how they guarded us. Really tough team. Really good team.”
What does that make Texas Tech, which will face 2 seed Michigan on Thursday in the Sweet 16?
During an 11-minute stretch — or 19 consecutive possessions, if you’d like a different gauge — the Bulls went without a field goal and scored only three points. Texas Tech scored 26, turning a 25-24 deficit into a 50-28 lead.
Those numbers are startling enough without this: Buffalo averaged 85 points. One of the nation’s most potent offenses was stifled, managing its fewest points and field goals (19) of the season.
It wasn’t so much one thing as everything. Afterward, Texas Tech senior forward Norense Odiase was asked the main defensive emphasis. He started with stopping the Bulls’ transition. Oh, and preventing open 3-point looks. And not allowing the Bulls’ guards to drive. There was also a focus on stuffing the middle. Forcing them into tough shots. And grabbing defensive rebounds. There was probably more, but the Red Raiders seemed more than adequate in every category.
Texas Tech ranks among the nation’s best defensive teams in several categories. But the Buffalo game might have set the standard in, as Beard calls it, “playing each possession to win.”
The Red Raiders squeezed off driving routes and cut off passing lanes and closed out on shooters — usually allowing only a very difficult shot, often in a thicket of defenders — and then crashed the glass, typically allowing Buffalo just one chance.
Just as important was what happened on the other end. They worked patiently deep into the shot clock, passing and cutting, passing and cutting, passing and then, sometime just before the shot clock expired, shooting.
Led by sophomore guard Jarrett Culver (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Odiase (14 points, 15 rebounds), all five starters scored at least 10 points. They shot 55 percent from inside the 3-point line.
“Tempo was everything,” Beard said. “We had no agenda to run with Buffalo. ... We had to grind it out. We wanted Buffalo to play defense tonight and not just fast-break it.”
“To lose the last one on toughness hurts. It’s not really who we are,” Buffalo coach Nate Oats said.
But it’s who the Red Raiders are, and what they’ve done to most opponents. Not all of them, of course. A little over a week ago, they were bounced from the Big 12 Conference Tournament by bottom-feeder West Virginia, and they did not play anything resembling March basketball.
But Texas Tech has shown us some high-level March basketball. And if the Red Raiders keep playing it, we might just see what it looks like in April.