NCAA RECAP: No. 3 Red Raiders 72, No. 14 Norse 57

Friday, March 22

Tulsa, Oklahoma

12:30 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

27-6

Northern Kentucky

26-9

Northern Kentucky

Texas Tech

NCAA RECAP: No. 3 Red Raiders 72, No. 14 Norse 57

March 22, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score HIGHLIGHTS TTU QUOTES NKU QUOTES BOX SCORE PRESS CONFERENCE

TULSA, Oklahoma – Jarrett Culver went for 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, Tariq Owens added five blocks and Matt Mooney recorded eight assists to help lead No. 3 seed Texas Tech to a 72-57 first-round win over No. 14 Northern Kentucky on Friday at the BOK Center.

The Red Raiders (27-6) advance to the second round where they will play Buffalo on Sunday at a time to be announced on Friday night. The Bulls (32-3) advanced with a 91-74 win over Arizona State in the second game in Tulsa.

"We're trying to win two games in three days," Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. "The first game of the tournament is always the toughest. Just really proud of our guys tonight and our team effort. I thought we won this game as a team. I think in the second half, more than any big adjustment, we just wanted to stay aggressive."

Texas Tech finished the game shooting 52.8 percent from the field with six 3-pointers, while the Norse (26-9) finished their season by being limited to 37.1 percent shooting from the field and 5-for-22 from beyond the arc. Tech has now shot over 50 percent in 13 games this season and has limited 20 opponents under 40 percent shooting. The Red Raiders were up 30-26 at halftime despite going 1-for-8 from the free-throw line in the first half before responding by going 9-for-9 at the line in the second half. The Red Raiders are now 12-18 in 17 appearances in the NCAA Tournament and have advanced to the second round for the second straight season.

Up only four at halftime, Texas Tech would take its first double-digit lead of the game at 44-34 on an Owens layup with 15 minutes to play. The advantage would only dip to single-digits for a brief moment a minute later before an alley-oop from Mooney to Owens sparked a 6-0 run that had the Red Raiders up 15 with 11 to play. Tech would control the rest of the game and led by as many as 20 on a Moretti layup that pushed it to 70-50.

"We thought in the first half we played well offensively, we couldn't make a free throw and we had too many turnovers," Beard said. "Really kind of staying consistent with our original game plan with just an emphasis of getting a little bit more aggressive."

Culver established a new program record by scoring his 29 points in an NCAA game, passing Ronald Ross who had 28 against UCLA in the 2005 tournament. Culver has now scored over 20 points in 11 games this season and is averaging 28.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game over the past three games. The Big 12 Conference Player of the Year was 10-for-17 from the field with three 3-pointers and six free throws to go along with having five steals for the second straight game and the fourth time this season.

"We just focused on us, details, how we got so far and how we made a run in the Big 12 and how we got to the March Madness tournament," Culver said. "So I felt like we focused on this all weekend. We did a great job on that."

Owens established a new program-high in an NCAA game with his five blocked shots and now has 83 on the season. A graduate transfer playing in his first NCAA Tournament game, Owens was 6-for-7 from the field and also had three rebounds. Owens now has three games this season with five or more blocks, including his single-game record of eight earlier this season against Memphis in Miami. His five blocks broke the NCAA Tournament record by a Red Raider that was set last year by Zach Smith who had three in the first-round against SFA. Davide Moretti added 10 points and five rebounds, going 2-for-3 at the free-throw line and also having two assists. Moretti's streak of 20 straight made free throws ended in the first half with a miss late in the half but was followed by him making two in the second half. He now leads the nation at 92.5 percent from the line having made 86 of 93 shots this season, including going 22 of 23 in the past seven games. Mooney had a career-high eight assists and also had nine points and five steals in his first NCAA Tournament game. The eight assists are the third most for a Red Raiders in an NCAA Tournament game behind only 10 from Jason Martin against North Carolina in 1996 and nine from Richard Little in 1973 against South Carolina. A transfer from South Dakota, Mooney made on 3-pointer and now has four or more assists in seven straight games. His eight assists followed five-assist performances against Iowa State and West Virginia leading into the game and he's now averaging 3.5 assists this season. Brandone Francis finished the game with six points after going 2-for-3 from beyond the arc for the Red Raiders who were 6-for-17 on 3-pointers against the Norse.

Tyler Sharpe led Northern Kentucky with 23 points and four rebounds, while Dantez Walton added 11 points. Jalen Tate had six assists and six points, but the Red Raiders limited Drew McDonald to only five points and one rebound. McDonald earned Horizon League Player of the Year honors after averaging 18.7 points and 9.4 rebounds per game this season. The Norse averaged 78.5 points per game and were held to a season-low by the Red Raiders who are second in the nation by holding teams to 59.2 points per game this season.

Texas Tech held a 30-26 lead at halftime with Culver leading with 12 points. Culver was 5-for-8 from the field with one 3-pointer while Francis had six points after making a pair of 3s. The Red Raiders were only 1-for-8 from the free-throw line in the opening half but shot 13-for-25 from the field. NKU was limited to just 11-for-30 from the field, including shooting 2-for-11 on 3-pointers. The Norse had a 21-16 rebounding advantage in the half. Tech started the game on a 6-0 run with Odiase scoring the first four points followed by a layup by Culver. The first-half lead was as big as eight when the Red Raiders led 25-17 with 4:32 remaining when Culver made a layup and then a free throw. A Francis 3-poitner gave the Red Raiders a 30-24 lead with a minute to play. Odiase and Owens had four points each at halftime, Mooney had four assists and three steals and Owens led the team with three rebounds and also extended his block streak to 33 with one block in the opening half.

Hit the gas in the second half.

Highlights ??

???? https://t.co/Zi1kQ1boXr #4To1 | #MarchMadness

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— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) March 22, 2019