How Sweet It Is: Red Raiders Move Past Florida

Saturday, March 17

Dallas, Texas

7:40 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

26-9

No. 23 Florida

21-13

Florida

Texas Tech

How Sweet It Is: Red Raiders Move Past Florida

March 17, 2018 | Men's Basketball

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The Red Raiders have won a nation-leading seven games against Associated Press Top 25 opponents this season.

DALLAS, Texas – Texas Tech men's basketball head coach Chris Beard said in the days leading up to the NCAA Tournament and March Madness that he wasn't quite ready to quit coaching his group of seniors. After Saturday night, he'll get at least another week.

The 14th-ranked Red Raiders (26-9), backed by 22 points from Keenan Evans, found their rhythm midway through the second half to down the 23rd-ranked Gators in a drama-filled 69-66 triumph to move past the NCAA Tournament Second Round for the third time in program history since the 64-team format was adopted in 1984-85 and first time since 2004-05.

I want to congratulate Florida on another great season," Beard said. "A lot of respect for their team. Their coach (Mike White) was at Louisiana Tech when I was at Little Rock. I kind of looked up to guys like that who have won wherever they've been and always got an opportunity. He's been somebody I've always respected. And then to compete against him tonight, it was as good as advertised. Definitely one of the toughest offensive teams we played against all year."

"I think you've got to give our guys a lot of credit," Beard continued. "We held them under 70 points. We had three guys in double figures. We had a lot of balance. Our two young guys, (Jarrett) Culver and Z (Zhaire Smith), were big-time tonight especially rebounding the ball when we were forced to go small ball. So just really pleased to coach these guys and to advance. We look at this kind of like a four-team tournament. We knew we had to win two games to get to the regional, so now we've got a chance at another four-team tournament to ultimately get to the biggest stage."

The American Airlines Center provided the canvas with a raucous partisan crowd of 18,642 fans. Once again, Evans proved why he's one of the top closers in college basketball as he poured in 16 points of team-leading 22 points during the second half. He drained the go-ahead trey late shot clock from the right wing with 2:32 remaining to break a 64-64 tie.

On the defensive end, Zach Smith followed with a critical block shot on a Florida layup attempt on the next possession. The Red Raiders stretched their lead to 69-64 as Evans split a double team, drove to the basket and found Zhaire Smith for an alley-opp dunk with 29.4 seconds left.

"Coach drew up a pick-and-roll play for me," Evans said of the final bucket. "Zach came out. The guy kind of came out too hard, and I saw an opening so I kind of split it. And Zhaire, Coach told him to be waiting right there. I was hoping he would make a 360 dunk again, but that didn't work out. I saw him right there, and I threw it up and he went up and finished it."

It was Evans' second 20-point performance of the tournament and his 14th this season. The Richardson native racked up 23 points in Texas Tech's first round win over Stephen F. Austin. The Red Raiders have dialed up a 13-1 mark when Evans piles up 20 or more points. Over the last five games, Evans has amassed 83 of 106 points on a 26-for-37 shooting clip in the second 20 minutes.

Zhaire Smith filled the box score with 18 points, a career-high nine rebounds, a career-best seven assists and one steal in 27 minutes of court time. He connected on an 8-for-13 shooting effort. His freshmen running mate, Jarrett Culver, chipped in 11 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Zach Smith provided a spark off the bench with six points, three rebounds and one block. He moved to within seven blocks of the program record held by former All-American Tony Battie. Niem Stevenson added five points and two assists whereas Justin Gray secured three points and five rebounds.

As a team, Texas Tech was 28-for-63 from the field highlighted by a 15-for-31 clip in the second half. The Red Raiders knocked down 6-for-15 on three-pointers and 7-for-14 at the free throw line. The battle on the glass was a deadlocked at 39-39.

Florida countered with a 25-of-63 shooting mark and misfired on 16 of its 22 from beyond the three-point line. The Gators were 10-of-15 on free throws and corralled a 38-34 edge in paint points. Jalen Hudson notched a game-leading 23 points followed by Egor Koulechov's 12 points and Chris Chiozza's 11 points, respectively.

UF jumped out early to a pair of seven-point leads halfway through the opening stanza, the latest coming at 26-19 with 9:47 to go on a Koulechov trifecta.

The Red Raiders fired back a 10-0 spurt over the next 3:59 off the clock. Culver found Zhaire Smith for a three-ball on the right wing to open the flurry. Then, Texas Tech executed on inbounds play to perfection out of the under-eight when Brandone Francis hit Zhaire Smith for a midrange jumper to make it 26-24 with 7:41 remaining.

Culver tacked on trey of his own from the left wing to give the Red Raiders the lead. Texas Tech turned defense into offense as Zhaire Smith hit Culver on an outlet pass for an acrobatic reverse layup in transition to bring the score to 29-26 at the 5:02 mark.

The Gators would regain a 33-32 advantage into the locker room as Koulechov beat the buzzer with a tipin. However, the Red Raiders would storm out of the intermission with six consecutive points highlighted by an Evans layup and a Zhaire Smith triple.

Florida worked its way back to a 48-43 lead with 12:40 remaining fueled by 13 points courtesy of Hudson and Kevaughn Allen.

Texas Tech erupted for 15 of the next 17 points in a 4:32 span to turn the five-point deficit into an eight point lead. Zach Smith started the charge with a traditional three-point play, and Zhaire Smith get loose in the paint for a layup for the equalizer.

The Red Raiders took the lead for good at 51-50 when a Zhaire Smith steal was outletted to Evans for fastbreak layup. Zhaire Smith soared thru the sky with a two-handed putback slam, and Evans stretched to a 58-50 margin on a pair of layups capped by an and-one at the 7:53 mark.

"I just want to coach these guys another day," Beard said. "That's the bottom line, I'm just having so much fun with this group. Just want to have one more practice, one more film session and one more travel week. I'm sure when we get to the next destination that we'll get greedy and want to do it again. But this is all about just surviving and advance. It really is, and I'm proud to be these guys' coach. I'm just glad we get to live another day."

UP NEXT
The Red Raiders will await the winner of Sunday's NCAA Round of 32 matchup between No. 11 Purdue and Butler for Friday's NCAA Sweet 16 round in Boston. Game time and television network will be announced after Sunday's games are complete.

Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the men's basketball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets by liking TexasTechMBB on Facebook along with following @TexasTechMBB on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

TEXAS TECH POSTGAME NOTES

With the win, Texas Tech heads to the Sweet 16 for the third time in school history and the first time since 2005. Tech also advanced to the Sweet 16 in 1996.
With the win, Texas Tech is now 10-16 all-time in NCAA Championship games.
With the win, Texas Tech is now 1-2 all-time against Florida as the two schools were meeting for the first time since 1962.
Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard now has a 3-1 career record in NCAA Championship games. He previously guided No. 12 seed Arkansas-Little Rock to the second round of the NCAA Championship in 2016.
Keenan Evans scored 20 or more points for the 14th time already this season and the 23rd time in his career. He has now scored at least 20 points in four of Texas Tech's last five games.
Texas Tech is now 13-1 this season when Keenan Evans scores 20 or more points. The Red Raiders have won each of their last 11 games where Evans has scored at least 20 points dating back to the Dec. 5 victory over Nevada.
Keenan Evans' 22 points marked the 19th time in school history where a Red Raider had scored 20 or more points in a NCAA Championship game.
Keenan Evans' 22 points followed a 23-point performance Thursday in the opening-round win over Stephen F. Austin. He joins Eugene Carpenter (1954, 1956) Jason Sasser (1996), Harold Hudgens (1961), Ronald Ross (2005) and Jason Sasser (1996) as the only Red Raiders with multiple 20-point games over their career in the NCAA Championship.
Zhaire Smith set a new career-high with nine rebounds as he came close to his first career double-double. The freshman also had 18 points, marking his 26th game this season in double figures. It marked the 11th time in the last 13 games where he has ended in double figures
Zhaire Smith added seven assists as well, snapping his previous career high of five that was set on Nov. 25 against Savannah State.
Jarrett Culver added 11 points on the night, moving him over 400 now for the season. Culver now has 402 points this year, 11 shy of Martin Zeno's school record for a freshman that was set during the 2004-05 season.
Jarrett Culver also came close to a double-double as he finished with nine rebounds. He came into the game with two double-doubles already this season.

"The boys from Lubbock are heading to Boston for the Sweet 16!" How great does that sound? ?? #WreckEm #4To1 pic.twitter.com/UsuuksyWZm
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) March 18, 2018