March 21, 2025 | Men's Basketball
WICHITA, Kansas โ Focus quickly shifts here at the NCAA Tournament. It has too. The elation of advancing after a win has to be left behind once you leave the arena with only one day between games. Attention has to be on the next opportunity.
No. 3 Texas Tech spent all day on Friday preparing for the only thing that currently matters, a matchup against No. 11 Drake. The two teams advanced to the NCAA Second Round with victories on Thursday, the Red Raiders (26-8) pulling away from UNC Wilmington for an 82-72 win after the Bulldogs (31-3) won their eighth straight game with a 67-57 margin over No. 6 Missouri to set up a 5:10 p.m. matchup on Saturday at INTRUST Bank Arena. The only pause in preparation came with a 45-minute media window with head coach Grant McCasland, sophomore Kevin Overton and freshman Christian Anderson addressing the media from the iconic dais. ย
Portions of the press conferences follow.
McCasland on the type of game he expects: "I do think what you'll see is two teams that play really hard, and I mean that. I think that's the foundation of both teams' success. Both staffs I think do a great job of making adjustments over the course of the game. So I think that's what you'll see is the quality of the adjustments being made over the course of the game that try to give our teams the best chance, but it goes down to the physical plays. You can watch all the offense they run, and it's unbelievable. You can watch their defense, and it's tough, but when that ball hits the rim, that's where it feels like these games are going to be won."
Overton on the matchup against Drake: "I think it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Just the way that it lined up for us to play again. New team. Got recruited by them. So yeah, personal, but it's going to be fun for sure. I think it's just finding other ways to win, putting myself in situations where I can still impact the team, whether that's offensively or defensively. It changes every game."
Anderson on Drake: "I think just from when shots aren't falling, we can't let it affect us. We know how good offensively we are as a team. When shots aren't falling, we can't let it affect the defensive side of the ball. That's really the main thing. If we do what we're supposed to defensively, then it's not so much about the offensive part, but yeah, if shots aren't falling, we have to really focus on finding other ways to score also."
McCasland on Drake's defensive: "Well, their switchability is one. They don't like to do it much, but they have such good gap help. Their ball pressure is unbelievable. Their activity on the ball is unbelievable. They don't give up angles. They know how to create turnovers with their hands. It's one of the most underrated teams at turning people over even though they really have a gap mentality. They do not give up offensive rebounds very often. For maybe not having a huge team and what people would consider maybe not an athletic team, they're one of the most physical and tough teams that you'll play against. They know how to make it difficult, and they know how to create turnovers also. That's really a unique aspect. A lot of people can play gap help, but maybe not turn you over. I think their ball pressure and their ability to guard the ball and get turnovers and not give up angles really it is elite."
Overton on the secret scrimmage against Drake: "ย I think we took a lot from that. I think they were in a similar spot. They still played together. They still understood where everybody need to be. Playmaking, the same spacing and the way that Bennett Stirtz manipulated the ball screen. Just going back and watching that, we were a completely different team back then, but just watching how they were offensively and how we can just use that to really just scout stop. That's really what it is. Scout stop."
Anderson on the secret scrimmage against Drake: "I mean, we know how good they are. It was my first time playing ever in like a college game in the scrimmage, so it was my first. I definitely remember it. I would just say we know how good they are. We know that this is a game that, like I said earlier, we really need to focus on matchups. If we do what we need to, we're going to be fine."
McCasland on playing Drake: "In preparation for tomorrow's game against Drake, I mean, it's been well documented that we know those guys well. The respect is through the roof for their coach (Ben McCollum). I think he's probably the best coach in college basketball right now. An unbelievable staff and just a tremendous team of grit that belong and are capable of winning this whole thing. We know that it's going to be a difficult task, but we are excited to be playing and looking forward to tomorrow night."
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