LUBBOCK, Texas – Only 16 teams remain in this fight, and for the third time in four NCAA Tournaments, Texas Tech is still a contender.
The third-seeded Red Raiders (27-9) are set to take on second-seeded Duke (30-6) in a West Region semifinal at 8:30 p.m. (CT) on Thursday at the Chase Center in San Francisco. Tech is playing in its fifth Sweet 16 after wins over Montana State (97-62) and Notre Dame (59-53) to begin the 2022 NCAA Tournament in San Diego, while Duke advanced with victories over Cal State Fullerton (78-61) and Michigan State (85-76) in Greenville, South Carolina.
The Blue Devils are a five-time national champion led by head coach Mike Krzyzewski who has 1,200 career wins, 99 tournament victories and has announced he will retire after this season is completed. Duke is 1-0 all-time against Tech with a Madison Square Garden matchup on December 20, 2018 going its way in a 69-58 decision.
“I don’t know if anybody is excited about playing Duke,” said Tech head coach Mark Adams in his postgame press conference on Sunday night when asked about the Blue Devils. “A lot of respect, obviously, for Coach K and Duke. He’s always been someone I looked up to. Not only is he a great coach, but a great person. Just done so much for basketball. And he’s built a program which we all admire and respect. It’s just one team to the next, he’s got a dynasty he’s built. So our hat’s off to him.”
The TTU-Duke winner will advance to the Elite 8 where they will play the Gonzaga-Arkansas winner for the West Region championship on Saturday at the home of the Golden State Warriors. Tech reached the 2018 Elite 8 and 2019 NCAA National Championship Final with Adams as the associate head coach of the program.
Bryson Williams leads the Red Raiders with 13.9 points per game this season after scoring 14 against Notre Dame and 20 points against Montana State. The Red Raiders have five more players averaging over 8.0 points per game with Terrence Shannon, Jr. (10.5), Kevin Obanor (10.0), Kevin McCullar (9.9), Davion Warren (9.7) and Adonis Arms (8.4). Tech had six scorers in double figures in the opening-round 97-62 win over Montana State with Williams and Shannon both scoring 20, while Obanor had recorded double-doubles in both wins including leading Tech with 15 points and 15 rebounds in the 59-53 win over the Irish. Obanor now has 34 career double-doubles, including five in the NCAA Tournament after having three last year while playing at Oral Roberts.
Tech remains at No. 1 in Kenpom.com defensive efficiency in a season where the Red Raiders are limiting opponents to only 60.2 points per game, are holding teams to 38.2 percent shooting and are forcing 15.9 turnovers per game. The top defensive unit in the nation, the 97 points by the Red Raiders against Montana State are the most points scored in any tournament game this season to this point. Warren leads the team with 53 steals, while Marcus Santos-Silva has 28 blocks for the Red Raiders who have limited 16 opponents under 60 points and five under 50 this season. Tech is an experienced team with five players having scored over 1,000 points in their careers with Williams leading the way with 2,128 followed by Warren (1,944), Arms (1,683), Obanor (1,666) and Santos-Silva (1,240). Shannon, who has played all three of his collegiate seasons at Tech, has 907 points for the most in a Red Raider uniform on this year’s team.
QUICK FACTS
West Region Semifinal: No. 3 Texas Tech (27-9) vs. No. 2 Duke (30-6)
Location: San Francisco, California
Venue: Chase Center
Tip: 8:30 p.m. (CDT), Thursday
TV: CBS
TV Talent: Jim Nantz (play-by-play), Bill Raftery and Grant Hill (analyst), Tracy Wolfson (reporter)
Westwood One National Radio: Ryan Radtke (play-by-play), Steve Lavin (analyst)
Radio (Texas Tech Sports Network): 97.3 Double T FM
Radio Talent: Geoff Haxton (play-by-play), Chris Level (analyst)
Series History: Duke leads 1-0
Last Meeting: No. 2 Duke won 69-58 over No. 12 Tech (12/20/18 – New York)
POLL/STAT REPORT
Texas Tech is in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 3 seed in the West Region and also at No. 12 in the final Associated Press Top 25 and No. 11 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll. Duke is at No. 9 in the ranking. The Red Raiders finished the season as a ranked team for 14 straight weeks after beginning as unranked team. Along the polls, Texas Tech remains at No. 1 in the Kenpom.com adjusted defensive efficiency rating and is now at No. 9 in the NCAA NET Rankings. Statistically, the Red Raiders are fourth nationally by limiting opponents to only 38.2 percent shooting and seventh with teams averaging just 60.3 points per game. TTU held Iowa State to 41 points in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals to establish a new program record against a Big 12 opponent for fewest points allowed before holding Montana State to only 38.2 percent shooting and 62 points and Notre Dame to 35.6 percent shooting and 53 points to begin the tournament. In the polls, Tech was ranked as high as No. 9 this season and has now entered the top-10 of the rankings in four of the past five seasons and has accomplished it this year by working their way up from beginning as an unranked team. Tech was not ranked for the first five weeks of the season before entering at No. 25 on December 13 following a win over Tennessee in the Jimmy V Classic. TTU spent four straight weeks at No. 25 before moving to No. 19, No. 18, No. 13, No. 14 and No. 9 in the national poll. Tech was at No. 14 before reaching the Big 12 Championship final for the second time in program history with a quarterfinal win over Iowa State and semifinal victory over Oklahoma. Tech fell to No. 6 Kansas in the championship game in Kansas City.
Tech’s highest AP ranking in program history came at No. 6 in February of 2018 (16th Week Poll) and the program spent one week at No. 7 last season before dipping back. The 2018-19 team was No. 8 in the final week of the regular season and No. 7 throughout the postseason that led to the 2019 National Championship Final.
TECH IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Red Raiders are now 10-3 over the past four tournaments which is the second most wins nationally with Gonzaga and Michigan tied for the most with 12. Houston and Duke each have nine during that span after two more in this year’s tournament also. After the 2020 tournament was canceled due to COVID, the program returned last season to advance to the 2021 NCAA Second Round after a win over Utah State before falling to Arkansas. Tech has made the NCAA Tournament 19 times, coming in 1954, 1956, 1961, 1962, 1973, 1976, 1985, 1986, 1993, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022.
MAKING HIS MARK
Adams has been named the Associated Press Big 12 Coach of the Year and is a finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award. He has already established the best record for a first-year Tech head coach with the 27-9 mark going into the Sweet 16. Bob Knight finished with a 23-9 record in his first season (2001-02) for the previous best record by a coach leading the program in his first season. Adams and the Red Raiders have long since surpassed their win total from the past two seasons after going 18-11 (2020-21) and 18-13 (2019-20). The program record for wins came in the historic 2018-19 season where the team went 31-7 and advanced to the NCAA Championship Final. The win over Baylor at home on February 16 gave the program its 16th season with 20 or more wins.
SURVIVE & EXHALE
Tech went on a 10-1 run in the final two minutes to take a 59-53 win over Notre Dame on Sunday in the second round of the tournament. Obanor led the Red Raiders with his 15-point, 15-rebound double-double while McCullar and Williams had 14 points each. The Red Raiders owned a 24-10 scoring advantage in the paint and was 13-for-17 at the free-throw line in the second half after going 0-for-3 at the line in the first half. Eight of the 10 points in the run came at the line with McCullar capping the game with a fastbreak dunk with 15 seconds remaining. Tech owned a 42-36 rebounding margin and held the Irish to only 32.7 percent shooting.
ROUND ONE TKO
TTU advanced to the second round for the fourth straight NCAA Tournament with an emphatic 97-62 win over Montana State last Friday where six players scored in double figures. Williams and Shannon led Tech with 20 points each, while Arms had 15 points and Warren, McCullar and Obanor had 10 each. Obanor posted a double-double with 11 rebounds to go along with his 10 points. Tech set a program record with the 35-point win and 97 points in a tournament game. The 97 points, 23 assists and 12 made 3-pointers were also all season-highs for the Red Raider offense which put up 52 points by halftime against the Bobcats. The win over Montana State assured that the team will not have lost back-to-back games all season.
2021-22 AWARDS / WATCH LISTS
Mark Adams: Associated Press Big 12 Coach of the Year; USBWA All-District Coach of the Year; Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year Finalist
Bryson Williams: All-Big 12 First Team; Big 12 All-Newcomer Team; Associated Press All-Big 12 First Team; Big 12 All-Tournament Team; USBWA All-District; NABC All-District; Big 12 Newcomer of Week (1/31, 2/21)
Kevin McCullar: All-Big 12 Honorable Mention; Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Semifinalist; Academic All-Big 12 (1st Team)
Kevin Obanor: All-Big 12 Honorable Mention; Big 12 Newcomer of the Week (1/24)
Adonis Arms: All-Big 12 Honorable Mention
Terrence Shannon: Big 12 All-Tournament Team; Academic All-Big 12 (1st Team)
Marcus Santos-Silva: All-Big 12 Honorable Mention; Academic All-Big 12 (2nd Team)
Clarence Nadolny: Academic All-Big 12 (2nd Team)
TECH VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
Tech is now 7-4 against ranked opponents and 3-3 against top-10 teams this season after falling to KU in the Big 12 Championship final. Tech was 7-3 against ranked opponents in the regular season after knocking off No. 20 Texas, No. 7 Baylor, No. 23 Texas, No. 15 Iowa State, No. 1 Baylor, No. 6 Kansas in conference play and a 57-52 overtime win over then-No. 13 Tennessee at the Jimmy V Classic. The losses came at No. 11 Iowa State to open Big 12 play, a 94-91 double-overtime loss at No. 5 Kansas on Jan. 24 and a 69-55 loss to No. 5 Gonzaga in the Jerry Colangelo Classic. As a program, Tech is 68-217 all-time against ranked opponents. The Red Raiders were 3-8 in the 2020-21 season against ranked teams with two wins over Texas (No. 4 and No. 14) and a home win over Oklahoma which was at No. 9.
RED RAIDERS vs. TOP-10 OPPONENTS
Tech has now beat a top-10 opponent in eight straight seasons, a top-5 opponent in seven straight and has 27 wins over top-10 teams in program history after beating Baylor when the Bears were at No. 1 (Jan. 11) and No. 7 (Feb. 16). The Red Raiders have 13 wins over top-10 teams since the 2015 season. Tech went 2-4 against top-10 opponents last season with a 79-77 road win over Texas in Austin on Jan. 13, 2021 before knocking off No. 9 Oklahoma with a 57-52 win in Lubbock on Feb. 1, 2021. The Red Raiders dropped their conference opener last season to No. 5 Kansas at home and fell twice to Baylor before No. 10 Arkansas topped them in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Tech is now 2-7 all-time against No. 1-ranked opponents with a 70-57 win over Louisville on Dec. 10, 2019 in the Jimmy V Classic before the win at Baylor on Jan. 11, 2022.
RED RAIDER ROSTER REPORT
The Tech roster of 14 is made up of five returners, six NCAA Division I transfers, one junior college transfer, a walk-on who joined at midterm and one high school signee. An experienced team, the Red Raiders have four super seniors in Davion Warren, Bryson Williams, Marcus Santos-Silva and Adonis Arms and five players who are currently in graduate school in Kevin Obanor, Warren, Williams, Santos-Silva and Arms. The program has five players who have played over 100 games in their career in Obanor (122), Warren (155), Williams (157), Santos-Silva (162) and Arms (139).
Williams leads Tech with 13.9 points per game this season after going for 14 points against Notre Dame and 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting (4-for-5 on 3-pointers) in the win over Montana State in the first and second rounds. He matched a Tech program record by hitting four 3-pointers in the NCAA Tournament game which also matched his season-high. Against the Irish, Williams was 6-for-14 from the field but 0-for-4 from beyond the arc. A fifth-year senior playing in his first NCAA Tournament, he has earned All-Big 12 First Team, Big 12 All-Newcomer Team, Big 12 All-Tournament Team, USBWA All-District and NABC All-District honors. Before the NCAA Tournament, he was coming off a team-high 17 points in the Big 12 Championship final against Kansas where he was 8-for-17 from the field. A starter in all 36 games who averaged 16.1 points per game in Big 12 play, Williams has now scored 2,128 points in his career with 501 coming this year in a Red Raider uniform. He has now scored in double figures in 27 games this season and in 106 in his career. He scored a season-high 33 points in the double-overtime loss at Kansas on January 24 where he was 14-for-19 from the field and 4 of 4 on 3-pointers and also scored 21 points on 8 of 9 shooting at TCU on February 26. He also dropped 17 points in the most recent nationally ranked wins over Texas and Baylor. He leads Tech by shooting 40.9 percent on 3-pointers (38-for-93), including going 22-for-52 (42.3 percent) in Big 12 games. Williams began his career with two seasons at Fresno State in his hometown before playing the past two at UTEP. He has played in 157 games in his career and has made 846 shots and come down with 895 career rebounds. Through two NCAA Tournament games, Williams is averaging 17.0 points per game and is shooting 14-for-24 (58.3 percent) from the field.
Obanor has recorded 34 career double-doubles and five straight in NCAA Tournament play after 15 points and 15 rebounds in the win over Notre Dame and 11 rebounds and 10 points in the win over Montana State. He is making his second straight trip to the Sweet 16 after helping to lead Oral Roberts to the third game of the tournament last season. He has also now scored in double figures in a season-high six straight games after leading Tech with 11 points in the Big 12 Championship semifinal win over OU and then also scoring 11 points against Kansas in the tournament final. He recorded three double-doubles in last year’s NCAA Tournament while playing at Oral Roberts, including an opening-round game where he had 30 points and 11 rebounds against Ohio State before going for 28/11 in a second-round win over Florida. Obanor now has four double-doubles this season, including a 16/10 performance at OSU in the regular-season finale. The double-double in Stillwater was his second double-double of the season and 32nd of his career. He has started all 36 games this season and is averaging 10.0 points and leads the team with 195 rebounds (5.4 per). His 15 rebounds in the win over Notre Dame matched a program record in the NCAA Tournament with Norense Odiase also having 15 against Buffalo in a 2019 second round matchup in Tulsa. Obanor also led Tech with 23 points and 13 rebounds in the home win over Baylor to record his first double-double of the season on February 16. A senior from Houston, Obanor is in his first season at Tech after playing three years at Oral Roberts where he was a two-time All-Summit League selection and was named to the NABC All-District team. He averaged 18.7 points and 9.6 rebounds last season as a junior and recorded 15 double-doubles as a junior. Obanor has recorded 19 double-figure scoring performances this season with his 23 against the Baylor and 20 against Lamar being his season-highs. He leads Tech with 46 made 3-pointers this season with a season-best five 3-pointers in the home win over Texas. Against BU in his first double-double performance, Obanor was 4-for-7 on 3-pointers and is now 168-for-426 (39.4 percent) on 3-pointers through 122 career games. He comes into the Sweet 16 of the 2022 NCAA Tournament with 1,666 points and 879 career rebounds and is currently averaging 12.5 points and 13.0 rebounds through two rounds.
Arms went for 15 points, five rebounds and three assists in the win over Montana State before contributing seven rebounds and four assists in the win over Notre Dame last week in San Diego. A fifth-year senior in his first and final season at Tech, Arms earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection after playing last season at Winthrop where he played in one NCAA Tournament game – scoring 10 points in a loss to Villanova. He is currently averaging 8.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. His 97 assists leads the team after having 18 assists in the last five games. Arms recorded his Big 12-highs in scoring with 15 points in the home win over Baylor and then also scoring 15 points at TCU. Arms has now scored 1,683 points in a career that includes two seasons at Mesa Community College (Arizona), one at Northwest Nazarene (Idaho) and last season at Winthrop. Arms is a Milwaukee native who moved to Arizona as a 12-year-old and has made his way up from junior college, NCAA DII to the Big 12. He had a season-high 16 points and seven assists in the win over Mississippi State by going 3-for-5 on 3-pointers in the Big 12/SEC Challenge and now has 11 games with three or more assists – including a season-high seven assists against MSU in that same 16-point performance. Arms has started the last 16 games and in 24 of 36 this season. He is currently averaging 10.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists through the opening two NCAA Tournament games.
McCullar scored 14 points in the win over Notre Dame after he contributed 10 points, four assists and two steals in the win over Montana State. He is currently leading the Red Raiders with 3.1 assists per game and is also at 9.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. McCullar also scored 10 points last season in the 2021 NCAA Tournament First Round win over Utah State and then 15 against Arkansas in the Second Round loss. An All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection, he has now scored in double figures in 16 games this season, 34 in his career and in all four NCAA Tournament games he’s played in. McCullar has scored 659 points and has 348 rebounds through 77 games in his career. A junior from San Antonio who is a 2022 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection and was a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Semifinalist (1 of 10), he’s led Tech in scoring six times this season and 11 times in his career. Against the Longhorns in Lubbock, McCullar had a career-high 12 made free throws in a 12 of 15 display from the stripe. He is second on the Red Raiders with 88 total assists, including having three or more assists in 18 of 28 games played this season. McCullar scored a career-high 24 points in the non-conference portion of the season against Grambling and also went for 21 points against Arkansas State. McCullar is the only current player who was on the 2019 NCAA Final Four team where he was a redshirt freshman. He had enrolled at midterm after graduating high school early. He also has 150 assists, 109 steals and three double-doubles in his career going into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. McCullar has scored in double figures in each of his four NCAA Tournament games with a high of 15 in the second round last season against Arkansas. He is currently averaging 12.0 points, 2.5 assists and 2.0 steals through two tournament games this season.
Shannon went off for 20 points and matched a career-high with six assists in the win over Montana State before being limited to three points in the victory against Notre Dame on Sunday. Against MSU in the first round, he was 3-for-4 on 3-pointers and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. Over the past six games, Shannon is now 12-for-21 on 3-pointers. He also led the Red Raiders last season with 20 points against Arkansas in a 2021 NCAA Tournament second-round loss after scoring 10 points in the first round against Utah State. He has now scored in double figures in three of four NCAA Tournament games. At the Big 12 Tournament, Shannon scored 15 points and had three steals in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinal win over Iowa State and then added 14 points in the championship final against Kansas where he was 3-for-4 on 3-pointers. He is averaging 10.5 points per game this season and has scored 907 points through 82 games in his Red Raider career. A junior from Chicago, Shannon is in his third season playing at Tech after he explored the NBA Draft process last summer before electing to return to Lubbock. He has 12 games in double-figure scoring through 25 games played this season, including a season-high 23 points in the home win over West Virginia where he hit three 3-pointers and was 6-for-7 at the free-throw line. Shannon also scored 20 points in the home win over TCU in the first matchup between the two teams this season by going 7-for-9 from the field with two 3-pointers. For his career, Shannon has made 300 shots including 72 3-pointers. Shannon has one double-double this season with 18 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Tennessee in the Jimmy V Classic after recording his first double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds last season at LSU in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Shannon was named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team. After his 20 points against Montana State, he has now led Tech in scoring seven times this season and 16 times in his career. Shannon is only the sixth Red Raider to have two or more 20-point performances in NCAA Tournament games along with Jarrett Culver, Ronald Ross, Jason Sasser, Harold Hudgens and Keenan Evans. Culver has the program record with 29 points in a first-round win over Northern Kentucky in 2019. Shannon comes into the matchup against Duke averaging 11.5 points and 3.0 assists through two games of this year’s tournament.
Warren had 10 points in the win over Montana State where he also added two assists and two steals before being limited to two points and three rebounds against Notre Dame. A fifth-year senior from Buffalo, New York making his first trip to the NCAA Tournament, Warren leads Tech with 53 steals this season with six games of three steals or more. He swiped a season-high four steals against K-State in the home finale on February 28 where also scored a season-high 23 points in the win before turning 23-years-old the next day. His 23 points against the Wildcats came with him going 9-for-11 from the field with two 3-pointers. He also led Tech in scoring after going for 16 points in the win over Oklahoma on February 22 where he was 7-for-9 from the field. A starter in 33 games this season, Warren played as a reserve for the first time this season in the Big 12 Championship final last Saturday and then again in the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. He is averaging 9.7 points per game and has scored in double figures in 19 games. He scored a previous season-high 19 points in the second game of the season against Grambling and finished Big 12 play averaging 9.6 points per game. Warren is in his first and final year at Tech after playing two seasons at Olney Central College and the past two at Hampton. He was the nation’s 13th best scorer last season after averaging 21.2 points per game at Hampton. Warren is currently at 1,944 career points when combining junior college, Hampton and 349 points this season. He is third on Tech’s stat sheet with 60 assists, including a season-high five assists at Kansas and in the season-opener against North Florida way back on November 9, 2021. Warren is currently 127-for-280 from the field this season with 28 3-pointers. He is currently averaging 6.0 points and 3.5 in the tournament.
Santos-Silva hit two crucial free throws with 54 seconds left against Notre Dame to give Tech a 55-52 lead in a game where he finished with five rebounds, four points and two blocked shots. He earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection and came into the NCAA Tournament off a game against Kansas in the Big 12 Championship final where he had eight points, six rebounds, two blocks and two steals. He had two points and two blocks in the win over Montana State. Santos-Silva is averaging 4.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game and leads the Red Raiders with 28 blocked shots after having eight in five games so far in the postseason. He recorded his first double-double of the season and 13th of his career by going for 10 points and 10 rebounds in the first win over Oklahoma State on Jan. 13 in Lubbock. A super senior from Taunton, Massachusetts who played three seasons at VCU, he has produced 1,240 points, 152 blocks and 957 rebounds through his team-high 162 games in his collegiate career. Santos-Silva had a season-high of 12 rebounds coming in the win over Lamar and 13 points in the opener against North Florida. Santos-Silva has 27 games in his career with double-digit rebounds after his 10 against OSU and has 11 games with four or more rebounds this season. He currently has 377 offensive rebounds in his career. Santos-Silva started all 29 games for Tech last season and had played a reserve role in 35 of 36 this season with a start coming on senior night against K-State. He has 13 double-doubles in his career, including going for 26 points and 22 rebounds in a win over Rhode Island while playing at VCU. Santos-Silva, who has a bachelor’s degree in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness from VCU, was named to the 2022 Academic All-Big 12 Second Team as a graduate student at Tech. He was also an Atlantic 10 All-Academic selection before transferring. Santos-Silva is currently averaging 3.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Tech’s bench is strong with talent in Mylik Wilson, Daniel Batcho, Clarence Nadolny, Chibuzo Agbo and KJ Allen who are poised to make impacts whenever they get on the court. Nadolny did not play against Montana State as a precaution to an injury and scored two points in 10 minutes of play against Notre Dame. He produced 14 points off the bench in the win at Texas in 20 minutes of play in Austin and a career-high 17 points in the win over No. 6 Kansas in Lawrence by going 6 of 13 from the field in 34 minutes of play. Nadolny is averaging 3.6 points, 0.9 assists and 1.0 steals per game. Nadolny had made three straight starts to open Big 12 before playing the rest of the season as a reserve. He finished Big 12 play with 4.6 points and was second on the team with 20 steals in conference play. Nadolny scored in double figures for the second time in his career against Baylor in Waco where he went for 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting. A junior from France, Nadolny is in his third season at Tech and has played in 80 games – getting his first start of his career in the conference opener at Iowa State. He had a career-high four steals in the loss at Iowa State where he also had nine points. Nadolny missed the first three games of the season due to off-season hip surgery.
Wilson had two points and two steals in the win over Montana State where he also threw down a 360 dunk in the final minute that was called off due to a traveling violation being called. It will live on despite whistle. Prior to the NCAA Tournament, he matched a season-high with three blocked shots against K-State in the home finale, including rejecting a 3-point attempt by Nijel Pack with 13 seconds remaining to try and tie the game. He now has 17 blocks this season and 60 in his career. A transfer from Louisiana, he currently has 221 assists after three against KU in the tournament finals, 750 points and 363 rebounds through 86 games played in his collegiate career. He scored a season-high 12 points against Mississippi State where he was 6 of 6 from the free-throw line. Wilson, who had a season-high four steals against UT in Lubbock and had five rebounds against the Longhorns in Austin, missed five games after minor knee surgery but has now played 22 in a row – returning to lead Tech with five assists in the win over Kansas on January 8 in his first game back. He is at 2.6 points and 1.7 rebounds in 31 games played. Wilson started five of the first six games of the season and had a season-high seven assists in the opener against North Florida. He scored a career-high 30 points two seasons ago while at Louisiana in a game at Appalachian State on January 6, 2020. Batcho is a freshman from Paris, France who transferred from Arizona where he redshirted last season before deciding to transfer while Agbo is a sophomore who has played in 45 games as a Red Raider. Batcho recorded a career-high four blocks at WVU where he also had six points and three rebounds in 13 minutes of play and secured a career-high 11 rebounds in the win over Tennessee in the Jimmy V Classic win. He had four rebounds in the win over Montana State and one rebound against the Irish. Batcho also had 10 rebounds and scored six points in the win over Omaha after producing eight rebounds and eight points against Incarnate Word in his breakout game at Tech. The tallest Red Raider at 6-foot-11, Batcho is averaging 2.8 rebounds and 2.3 points per game. Agbo scored a career-high eight points in the win over Montana State where he was 2-for-2 on 3-pointers and 3 of 3 from the field in six minutes of play. A San Diego native, Agbo’s homecoming topped his previous season-high of seven points against Omaha earlier this season after he had six points in the 2021 NCAA Tournament against Arkansas where he hit two second-half 3-pointers in the second-round matchup. He did not play in the win over Notre Dame. Allen is in his first season at Tech after transferring from East Los Angeles College where he averaged 18.5 points and 9.3 rebounds, had 11 double-doubles and starred in the Netflix series Last Chance U: Basketball during his freshman season of 2019-20. Allen recorded career-high eight rebounds and matched a season-best with six points against K-State in the home finale. Three of his eight rebounds against KSU were on the offensive end of the court to give him 12 offensive rebounds this season. He is averaging 2.1 points and 1.9 rebounds per game this season in 19 games played after playing for 3:38 in the first round of the tournament.
A true freshman from Lubbock, Ethan Duncan is redshirting this season after suffering an off-season shoulder injury that required surgery. Austin Timperman made his debut against EWU after becoming eligible at midterm. A walk-on from The Woodlands, Timperman transferred to Tech as a student last year after being in UTSA’s team during the 2019-20 season where he played in six games. Sardaar Calhoun entered the transfer portal on Jan. 11 and is no longer with the team. At midyear, Tech added Jaylon Tyson to the roster after he decided to transfer from the University of Texas. Tyson will be able to practice with the team, but is not eligible to play until the 2022-23 season.
DUKE BLUE DEVIL REPORT
Second-seeded Duke comes into the Sweet Sixteen following wins over Cal State Fullerton and Michigan State in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The No. 9-ranked Blue Devils are led by freshman forward Paolo Banchero who is averaging a team-best 17 points and 7.9 rebounds per game while being second on the team in assists averaging 3.2 per game. A finalist for the Wooden Award, ACC Freshman of the Year and All-ACC First Team honoree, Banchero is averaging 18 points and 8.5 rebounds in NCAA Tournament play. Junior guard Wendell Moore Jr. is second on the team in scoring putting up 13.5 points per game. All-ACC Second Team and All-ACC Defensive Team honoree, Moore Jr. leads the team in assists averaging 4.6 per game and steals averaging 1.4 per game. Freshmen wings Trevor Keels and AJ Griffin are third and fifth on the team in scoring, respectively. They combine for 22 points per game and 7.6 rebounds per game. The All-ACC Freshman Team honorees were a part of a Duke recruiting class that ranked sixth in the country with the likes of Keels, Griffin and Banchero who were all five-star prospects and the top-rated player in their respective states. Mark Williams is the fourth leading scorer on the team putting up 11.2 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. The All-ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Williams is leading the Blue Devils in blocks with 104 which ranks 10th in the country. Sophomore guard Jeremy Roach, who splits time as a starter and sixth man with Griffin and Keels, is averaging 8.4 points and 3.1 assists per game. An efficient facilitator, Roach has an assist to turnover ratio of 2.1 which ranks second on the team for a team that has the third-best assist to turnover ratio in the country. Seniors Joey Baker and Theo John round out the rest of the contributors for Duke. They combine for 23.3 minutes, 7.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
The Blue Devils have a 30-6 record on the season and won the ACC regular-season title going 16-4 in conference play. They are led by Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski who is in his 41st and final season at Duke. The all-time winningest coach in Division I history, Krzyzewski has 99 wins in the NCAA Tournament including five national titles.
DOMINATING THE PAINT
Texas Tech has outscored 34 of 36 opponents inside the paint this season and own a combined 1,188-618 scoring advantage. The Red Raiders owned a 38-16 margin against Montana State and then a 24-10 margin over Notre Dame. Game-by-game points from the paint are listed below.
TTU 54 – UNF 20; TTU 30 – GRM 16; TTU 38 – PVAMU 20; TTU 40 – UIW 24; TTU 54 – UNO 10; TTU 26 – LMR 20; TTU 30 – PC 22; TTU 28 – TENN 26; TTU 40 – ARK ST. 12; TTU 26 – GONZ 16; TTU 40 – EWU 4; TTU 36 – ALB ST. 8; TTU 28 – ISU 6; TTU 44 – KU 18; TTU 36 – BU 22; TTU 30 – OSU 20; TTU 30 – ISU 26; TTU 30 – WVU 16; TTU 46 – KU 40; TTU 44 – MISS ST. 16; TTU 30 – UT 24; TTU 34 – WVU 10; TTU 30 – OU 18; TTU 38 – TCU 20; TTU 28 – BU 22; TTU 26 – UT 10; TTU 34 – OU 16; TTU 40 – TCU 30; TTU 36 – KSU 10; TTU 22 – OSU 26; TTU 42 – ISU 14; OU 26 – TTU 22; TTU 36 – KU 30; TTU 38 – MSU 16; TTU 24 – ND 10.
AN ALL-TIME LOW
The 41 points Tech limited Iowa State to in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals are the fewest points a Big 12 opponent has ever been held to in Red Raider history. TTU had limited Oklahoma to only 42 points in the 66-42 win on Feb. 22 by holding the Sooners to only 37.8 percent and only one offensive rebound which matched the Tech record in Big 12 play. The other low came by holding TCU to 42 points in an 88-42 win on Feb. 10, 2020 in Lubbock.
HOME DOMINANCE
The Red Raiders completed a perfect home season where they were 18-0 overall and 9-0 by sweeping conference games. Tech outscored its opponents by a 79.7 to 58.8 scoring margin (1,434-1,058) in games at the United Supermarkets Arena. Tech’s 18-0 record at home this season was matched only by No. 4 Kentucky nationally. No. 2 Arizona ran off a 17-0 home record, while No. 1 Gonzaga finished its regular season with a 16-0 record in Spokane. The Red Raiders were the only Big 12 team without a loss at home this season. Tech is currently on a 21-game home winning streak dating back to last season where it finished the year with home wins over Texas, TCU and Iowa State and have the second longest streak behind a 67-game run from Gonzaga. Tech has had 14,000-plus fans in 11 of 18 games this season and has recorded sellouts against Mississippi State, Iowa State, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas State. The program set a new attendance record with 15,300 fans at the February 1 game against the Longhorns.
HISTORIC RUN
Texas Tech has ascended into one of the top college basketball programs in the nation. The program advanced to the 2018 NCAA Elite 8 and then reached the 2019 Final Four for the first time in program history. The Red Raiders won the 2019 Big 12 regular-season championship before making their historic run in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Tech started the postseason journey with wins over Northern Kentucky and Buffalo in the first and second rounds hosted in Tulsa and then went through Michigan and Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 in Anaheim. TTU topped Michigan State in the Final Four in Minneapolis before falling to Virginia in the 2019 NCAA Championship Final in overtime. The national runner-up finish is the best showing in program history. McCullar is the only player on the current roster who was on the Final Four team, while Adams and Sutton remain from the staff. The final step of ascension for the program is now only four wins away.
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LUBBOCK, Texas – Only 16 teams remain in this fight, and for the third time in four NCAA Tournaments, Texas Tech is still a contender.
The third-seeded Red Raiders (27-9) are set to take on second-seeded Duke (30-6) in a West Region semifinal at 8:30 p.m. (CT) on Thursday at the Chase Center in San Francisco. Tech is playing in its fifth Sweet 16 after wins over Montana State (97-62) and Notre Dame (59-53) to begin the 2022 NCAA Tournament in San Diego, while Duke advanced with victories over Cal State Fullerton (78-61) and Michigan State (85-76) in Greenville, South Carolina.
The Blue Devils are a five-time national champion led by head coach Mike Krzyzewski who has 1,200 career wins, 99 tournament victories and has announced he will retire after this season is completed. Duke is 1-0 all-time against Tech with a Madison Square Garden matchup on December 20, 2018 going its way in a 69-58 decision.
“I don’t know if anybody is excited about playing Duke,” said Tech head coach Mark Adams in his postgame press conference on Sunday night when asked about the Blue Devils. “A lot of respect, obviously, for Coach K and Duke. He’s always been someone I looked up to. Not only is he a great coach, but a great person. Just done so much for basketball. And he’s built a program which we all admire and respect. It’s just one team to the next, he’s got a dynasty he’s built. So our hat’s off to him.”
The TTU-Duke winner will advance to the Elite 8 where they will play the Gonzaga-Arkansas winner for the West Region championship on Saturday at the home of the Golden State Warriors. Tech reached the 2018 Elite 8 and 2019 NCAA National Championship Final with Adams as the associate head coach of the program.
Bryson Williams leads the Red Raiders with 13.9 points per game this season after scoring 14 against Notre Dame and 20 points against Montana State. The Red Raiders have five more players averaging over 8.0 points per game with Terrence Shannon, Jr. (10.5), Kevin Obanor (10.0), Kevin McCullar (9.9), Davion Warren (9.7) and Adonis Arms (8.4). Tech had six scorers in double figures in the opening-round 97-62 win over Montana State with Williams and Shannon both scoring 20, while Obanor had recorded double-doubles in both wins including leading Tech with 15 points and 15 rebounds in the 59-53 win over the Irish. Obanor now has 34 career double-doubles, including five in the NCAA Tournament after having three last year while playing at Oral Roberts.
Tech remains at No. 1 in Kenpom.com defensive efficiency in a season where the Red Raiders are limiting opponents to only 60.2 points per game, are holding teams to 38.2 percent shooting and are forcing 15.9 turnovers per game. The top defensive unit in the nation, the 97 points by the Red Raiders against Montana State are the most points scored in any tournament game this season to this point. Warren leads the team with 53 steals, while Marcus Santos-Silva has 28 blocks for the Red Raiders who have limited 16 opponents under 60 points and five under 50 this season. Tech is an experienced team with five players having scored over 1,000 points in their careers with Williams leading the way with 2,128 followed by Warren (1,944), Arms (1,683), Obanor (1,666) and Santos-Silva (1,240). Shannon, who has played all three of his collegiate seasons at Tech, has 907 points for the most in a Red Raider uniform on this year’s team.
QUICK FACTS
West Region Semifinal: No. 3 Texas Tech (27-9) vs. No. 2 Duke (30-6)
Location: San Francisco, California
Venue: Chase Center
Tip: 8:30 p.m. (CDT), Thursday
TV: CBS
TV Talent: Jim Nantz (play-by-play), Bill Raftery and Grant Hill (analyst), Tracy Wolfson (reporter)
Westwood One National Radio: Ryan Radtke (play-by-play), Steve Lavin (analyst)
Radio (Texas Tech Sports Network): 97.3 Double T FM
Radio Talent: Geoff Haxton (play-by-play), Chris Level (analyst)
Series History: Duke leads 1-0
Last Meeting: No. 2 Duke won 69-58 over No. 12 Tech (12/20/18 – New York)
POLL/STAT REPORT
Texas Tech is in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 3 seed in the West Region and also at No. 12 in the final Associated Press Top 25 and No. 11 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll. Duke is at No. 9 in the ranking. The Red Raiders finished the season as a ranked team for 14 straight weeks after beginning as unranked team. Along the polls, Texas Tech remains at No. 1 in the Kenpom.com adjusted defensive efficiency rating and is now at No. 9 in the NCAA NET Rankings. Statistically, the Red Raiders are fourth nationally by limiting opponents to only 38.2 percent shooting and seventh with teams averaging just 60.3 points per game. TTU held Iowa State to 41 points in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals to establish a new program record against a Big 12 opponent for fewest points allowed before holding Montana State to only 38.2 percent shooting and 62 points and Notre Dame to 35.6 percent shooting and 53 points to begin the tournament. In the polls, Tech was ranked as high as No. 9 this season and has now entered the top-10 of the rankings in four of the past five seasons and has accomplished it this year by working their way up from beginning as an unranked team. Tech was not ranked for the first five weeks of the season before entering at No. 25 on December 13 following a win over Tennessee in the Jimmy V Classic. TTU spent four straight weeks at No. 25 before moving to No. 19, No. 18, No. 13, No. 14 and No. 9 in the national poll. Tech was at No. 14 before reaching the Big 12 Championship final for the second time in program history with a quarterfinal win over Iowa State and semifinal victory over Oklahoma. Tech fell to No. 6 Kansas in the championship game in Kansas City.
Tech’s highest AP ranking in program history came at No. 6 in February of 2018 (16th Week Poll) and the program spent one week at No. 7 last season before dipping back. The 2018-19 team was No. 8 in the final week of the regular season and No. 7 throughout the postseason that led to the 2019 National Championship Final.
TECH IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Red Raiders are now 10-3 over the past four tournaments which is the second most wins nationally with Gonzaga and Michigan tied for the most with 12. Houston and Duke each have nine during that span after two more in this year’s tournament also. After the 2020 tournament was canceled due to COVID, the program returned last season to advance to the 2021 NCAA Second Round after a win over Utah State before falling to Arkansas. Tech has made the NCAA Tournament 19 times, coming in 1954, 1956, 1961, 1962, 1973, 1976, 1985, 1986, 1993, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022.
MAKING HIS MARK
Adams has been named the Associated Press Big 12 Coach of the Year and is a finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award. He has already established the best record for a first-year Tech head coach with the 27-9 mark going into the Sweet 16. Bob Knight finished with a 23-9 record in his first season (2001-02) for the previous best record by a coach leading the program in his first season. Adams and the Red Raiders have long since surpassed their win total from the past two seasons after going 18-11 (2020-21) and 18-13 (2019-20). The program record for wins came in the historic 2018-19 season where the team went 31-7 and advanced to the NCAA Championship Final. The win over Baylor at home on February 16 gave the program its 16th season with 20 or more wins.
SURVIVE & EXHALE
Tech went on a 10-1 run in the final two minutes to take a 59-53 win over Notre Dame on Sunday in the second round of the tournament. Obanor led the Red Raiders with his 15-point, 15-rebound double-double while McCullar and Williams had 14 points each. The Red Raiders owned a 24-10 scoring advantage in the paint and was 13-for-17 at the free-throw line in the second half after going 0-for-3 at the line in the first half. Eight of the 10 points in the run came at the line with McCullar capping the game with a fastbreak dunk with 15 seconds remaining. Tech owned a 42-36 rebounding margin and held the Irish to only 32.7 percent shooting.
ROUND ONE TKO
TTU advanced to the second round for the fourth straight NCAA Tournament with an emphatic 97-62 win over Montana State last Friday where six players scored in double figures. Williams and Shannon led Tech with 20 points each, while Arms had 15 points and Warren, McCullar and Obanor had 10 each. Obanor posted a double-double with 11 rebounds to go along with his 10 points. Tech set a program record with the 35-point win and 97 points in a tournament game. The 97 points, 23 assists and 12 made 3-pointers were also all season-highs for the Red Raider offense which put up 52 points by halftime against the Bobcats. The win over Montana State assured that the team will not have lost back-to-back games all season.
2021-22 AWARDS / WATCH LISTS
Mark Adams: Associated Press Big 12 Coach of the Year; USBWA All-District Coach of the Year; Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year Finalist
Bryson Williams: All-Big 12 First Team; Big 12 All-Newcomer Team; Associated Press All-Big 12 First Team; Big 12 All-Tournament Team; USBWA All-District; NABC All-District; Big 12 Newcomer of Week (1/31, 2/21)
Kevin McCullar: All-Big 12 Honorable Mention; Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Semifinalist; Academic All-Big 12 (1st Team)
Kevin Obanor: All-Big 12 Honorable Mention; Big 12 Newcomer of the Week (1/24)
Adonis Arms: All-Big 12 Honorable Mention
Terrence Shannon: Big 12 All-Tournament Team; Academic All-Big 12 (1st Team)
Marcus Santos-Silva: All-Big 12 Honorable Mention; Academic All-Big 12 (2nd Team)
Clarence Nadolny: Academic All-Big 12 (2nd Team)
TECH VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
Tech is now 7-4 against ranked opponents and 3-3 against top-10 teams this season after falling to KU in the Big 12 Championship final. Tech was 7-3 against ranked opponents in the regular season after knocking off No. 20 Texas, No. 7 Baylor, No. 23 Texas, No. 15 Iowa State, No. 1 Baylor, No. 6 Kansas in conference play and a 57-52 overtime win over then-No. 13 Tennessee at the Jimmy V Classic. The losses came at No. 11 Iowa State to open Big 12 play, a 94-91 double-overtime loss at No. 5 Kansas on Jan. 24 and a 69-55 loss to No. 5 Gonzaga in the Jerry Colangelo Classic. As a program, Tech is 68-217 all-time against ranked opponents. The Red Raiders were 3-8 in the 2020-21 season against ranked teams with two wins over Texas (No. 4 and No. 14) and a home win over Oklahoma which was at No. 9.
RED RAIDERS vs. TOP-10 OPPONENTS
Tech has now beat a top-10 opponent in eight straight seasons, a top-5 opponent in seven straight and has 27 wins over top-10 teams in program history after beating Baylor when the Bears were at No. 1 (Jan. 11) and No. 7 (Feb. 16). The Red Raiders have 13 wins over top-10 teams since the 2015 season. Tech went 2-4 against top-10 opponents last season with a 79-77 road win over Texas in Austin on Jan. 13, 2021 before knocking off No. 9 Oklahoma with a 57-52 win in Lubbock on Feb. 1, 2021. The Red Raiders dropped their conference opener last season to No. 5 Kansas at home and fell twice to Baylor before No. 10 Arkansas topped them in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Tech is now 2-7 all-time against No. 1-ranked opponents with a 70-57 win over Louisville on Dec. 10, 2019 in the Jimmy V Classic before the win at Baylor on Jan. 11, 2022.
RED RAIDER ROSTER REPORT
The Tech roster of 14 is made up of five returners, six NCAA Division I transfers, one junior college transfer, a walk-on who joined at midterm and one high school signee. An experienced team, the Red Raiders have four super seniors in Davion Warren, Bryson Williams, Marcus Santos-Silva and Adonis Arms and five players who are currently in graduate school in Kevin Obanor, Warren, Williams, Santos-Silva and Arms. The program has five players who have played over 100 games in their career in Obanor (122), Warren (155), Williams (157), Santos-Silva (162) and Arms (139).
Williams leads Tech with 13.9 points per game this season after going for 14 points against Notre Dame and 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting (4-for-5 on 3-pointers) in the win over Montana State in the first and second rounds. He matched a Tech program record by hitting four 3-pointers in the NCAA Tournament game which also matched his season-high. Against the Irish, Williams was 6-for-14 from the field but 0-for-4 from beyond the arc. A fifth-year senior playing in his first NCAA Tournament, he has earned All-Big 12 First Team, Big 12 All-Newcomer Team, Big 12 All-Tournament Team, USBWA All-District and NABC All-District honors. Before the NCAA Tournament, he was coming off a team-high 17 points in the Big 12 Championship final against Kansas where he was 8-for-17 from the field. A starter in all 36 games who averaged 16.1 points per game in Big 12 play, Williams has now scored 2,128 points in his career with 501 coming this year in a Red Raider uniform. He has now scored in double figures in 27 games this season and in 106 in his career. He scored a season-high 33 points in the double-overtime loss at Kansas on January 24 where he was 14-for-19 from the field and 4 of 4 on 3-pointers and also scored 21 points on 8 of 9 shooting at TCU on February 26. He also dropped 17 points in the most recent nationally ranked wins over Texas and Baylor. He leads Tech by shooting 40.9 percent on 3-pointers (38-for-93), including going 22-for-52 (42.3 percent) in Big 12 games. Williams began his career with two seasons at Fresno State in his hometown before playing the past two at UTEP. He has played in 157 games in his career and has made 846 shots and come down with 895 career rebounds. Through two NCAA Tournament games, Williams is averaging 17.0 points per game and is shooting 14-for-24 (58.3 percent) from the field.
Obanor has recorded 34 career double-doubles and five straight in NCAA Tournament play after 15 points and 15 rebounds in the win over Notre Dame and 11 rebounds and 10 points in the win over Montana State. He is making his second straight trip to the Sweet 16 after helping to lead Oral Roberts to the third game of the tournament last season. He has also now scored in double figures in a season-high six straight games after leading Tech with 11 points in the Big 12 Championship semifinal win over OU and then also scoring 11 points against Kansas in the tournament final. He recorded three double-doubles in last year’s NCAA Tournament while playing at Oral Roberts, including an opening-round game where he had 30 points and 11 rebounds against Ohio State before going for 28/11 in a second-round win over Florida. Obanor now has four double-doubles this season, including a 16/10 performance at OSU in the regular-season finale. The double-double in Stillwater was his second double-double of the season and 32nd of his career. He has started all 36 games this season and is averaging 10.0 points and leads the team with 195 rebounds (5.4 per). His 15 rebounds in the win over Notre Dame matched a program record in the NCAA Tournament with Norense Odiase also having 15 against Buffalo in a 2019 second round matchup in Tulsa. Obanor also led Tech with 23 points and 13 rebounds in the home win over Baylor to record his first double-double of the season on February 16. A senior from Houston, Obanor is in his first season at Tech after playing three years at Oral Roberts where he was a two-time All-Summit League selection and was named to the NABC All-District team. He averaged 18.7 points and 9.6 rebounds last season as a junior and recorded 15 double-doubles as a junior. Obanor has recorded 19 double-figure scoring performances this season with his 23 against the Baylor and 20 against Lamar being his season-highs. He leads Tech with 46 made 3-pointers this season with a season-best five 3-pointers in the home win over Texas. Against BU in his first double-double performance, Obanor was 4-for-7 on 3-pointers and is now 168-for-426 (39.4 percent) on 3-pointers through 122 career games. He comes into the Sweet 16 of the 2022 NCAA Tournament with 1,666 points and 879 career rebounds and is currently averaging 12.5 points and 13.0 rebounds through two rounds.
Arms went for 15 points, five rebounds and three assists in the win over Montana State before contributing seven rebounds and four assists in the win over Notre Dame last week in San Diego. A fifth-year senior in his first and final season at Tech, Arms earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection after playing last season at Winthrop where he played in one NCAA Tournament game – scoring 10 points in a loss to Villanova. He is currently averaging 8.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. His 97 assists leads the team after having 18 assists in the last five games. Arms recorded his Big 12-highs in scoring with 15 points in the home win over Baylor and then also scoring 15 points at TCU. Arms has now scored 1,683 points in a career that includes two seasons at Mesa Community College (Arizona), one at Northwest Nazarene (Idaho) and last season at Winthrop. Arms is a Milwaukee native who moved to Arizona as a 12-year-old and has made his way up from junior college, NCAA DII to the Big 12. He had a season-high 16 points and seven assists in the win over Mississippi State by going 3-for-5 on 3-pointers in the Big 12/SEC Challenge and now has 11 games with three or more assists – including a season-high seven assists against MSU in that same 16-point performance. Arms has started the last 16 games and in 24 of 36 this season. He is currently averaging 10.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists through the opening two NCAA Tournament games.
McCullar scored 14 points in the win over Notre Dame after he contributed 10 points, four assists and two steals in the win over Montana State. He is currently leading the Red Raiders with 3.1 assists per game and is also at 9.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. McCullar also scored 10 points last season in the 2021 NCAA Tournament First Round win over Utah State and then 15 against Arkansas in the Second Round loss. An All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection, he has now scored in double figures in 16 games this season, 34 in his career and in all four NCAA Tournament games he’s played in. McCullar has scored 659 points and has 348 rebounds through 77 games in his career. A junior from San Antonio who is a 2022 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection and was a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Semifinalist (1 of 10), he’s led Tech in scoring six times this season and 11 times in his career. Against the Longhorns in Lubbock, McCullar had a career-high 12 made free throws in a 12 of 15 display from the stripe. He is second on the Red Raiders with 88 total assists, including having three or more assists in 18 of 28 games played this season. McCullar scored a career-high 24 points in the non-conference portion of the season against Grambling and also went for 21 points against Arkansas State. McCullar is the only current player who was on the 2019 NCAA Final Four team where he was a redshirt freshman. He had enrolled at midterm after graduating high school early. He also has 150 assists, 109 steals and three double-doubles in his career going into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. McCullar has scored in double figures in each of his four NCAA Tournament games with a high of 15 in the second round last season against Arkansas. He is currently averaging 12.0 points, 2.5 assists and 2.0 steals through two tournament games this season.
Shannon went off for 20 points and matched a career-high with six assists in the win over Montana State before being limited to three points in the victory against Notre Dame on Sunday. Against MSU in the first round, he was 3-for-4 on 3-pointers and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. Over the past six games, Shannon is now 12-for-21 on 3-pointers. He also led the Red Raiders last season with 20 points against Arkansas in a 2021 NCAA Tournament second-round loss after scoring 10 points in the first round against Utah State. He has now scored in double figures in three of four NCAA Tournament games. At the Big 12 Tournament, Shannon scored 15 points and had three steals in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinal win over Iowa State and then added 14 points in the championship final against Kansas where he was 3-for-4 on 3-pointers. He is averaging 10.5 points per game this season and has scored 907 points through 82 games in his Red Raider career. A junior from Chicago, Shannon is in his third season playing at Tech after he explored the NBA Draft process last summer before electing to return to Lubbock. He has 12 games in double-figure scoring through 25 games played this season, including a season-high 23 points in the home win over West Virginia where he hit three 3-pointers and was 6-for-7 at the free-throw line. Shannon also scored 20 points in the home win over TCU in the first matchup between the two teams this season by going 7-for-9 from the field with two 3-pointers. For his career, Shannon has made 300 shots including 72 3-pointers. Shannon has one double-double this season with 18 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Tennessee in the Jimmy V Classic after recording his first double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds last season at LSU in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Shannon was named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team. After his 20 points against Montana State, he has now led Tech in scoring seven times this season and 16 times in his career. Shannon is only the sixth Red Raider to have two or more 20-point performances in NCAA Tournament games along with Jarrett Culver, Ronald Ross, Jason Sasser, Harold Hudgens and Keenan Evans. Culver has the program record with 29 points in a first-round win over Northern Kentucky in 2019. Shannon comes into the matchup against Duke averaging 11.5 points and 3.0 assists through two games of this year’s tournament.
Warren had 10 points in the win over Montana State where he also added two assists and two steals before being limited to two points and three rebounds against Notre Dame. A fifth-year senior from Buffalo, New York making his first trip to the NCAA Tournament, Warren leads Tech with 53 steals this season with six games of three steals or more. He swiped a season-high four steals against K-State in the home finale on February 28 where also scored a season-high 23 points in the win before turning 23-years-old the next day. His 23 points against the Wildcats came with him going 9-for-11 from the field with two 3-pointers. He also led Tech in scoring after going for 16 points in the win over Oklahoma on February 22 where he was 7-for-9 from the field. A starter in 33 games this season, Warren played as a reserve for the first time this season in the Big 12 Championship final last Saturday and then again in the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. He is averaging 9.7 points per game and has scored in double figures in 19 games. He scored a previous season-high 19 points in the second game of the season against Grambling and finished Big 12 play averaging 9.6 points per game. Warren is in his first and final year at Tech after playing two seasons at Olney Central College and the past two at Hampton. He was the nation’s 13th best scorer last season after averaging 21.2 points per game at Hampton. Warren is currently at 1,944 career points when combining junior college, Hampton and 349 points this season. He is third on Tech’s stat sheet with 60 assists, including a season-high five assists at Kansas and in the season-opener against North Florida way back on November 9, 2021. Warren is currently 127-for-280 from the field this season with 28 3-pointers. He is currently averaging 6.0 points and 3.5 in the tournament.
Santos-Silva hit two crucial free throws with 54 seconds left against Notre Dame to give Tech a 55-52 lead in a game where he finished with five rebounds, four points and two blocked shots. He earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection and came into the NCAA Tournament off a game against Kansas in the Big 12 Championship final where he had eight points, six rebounds, two blocks and two steals. He had two points and two blocks in the win over Montana State. Santos-Silva is averaging 4.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game and leads the Red Raiders with 28 blocked shots after having eight in five games so far in the postseason. He recorded his first double-double of the season and 13th of his career by going for 10 points and 10 rebounds in the first win over Oklahoma State on Jan. 13 in Lubbock. A super senior from Taunton, Massachusetts who played three seasons at VCU, he has produced 1,240 points, 152 blocks and 957 rebounds through his team-high 162 games in his collegiate career. Santos-Silva had a season-high of 12 rebounds coming in the win over Lamar and 13 points in the opener against North Florida. Santos-Silva has 27 games in his career with double-digit rebounds after his 10 against OSU and has 11 games with four or more rebounds this season. He currently has 377 offensive rebounds in his career. Santos-Silva started all 29 games for Tech last season and had played a reserve role in 35 of 36 this season with a start coming on senior night against K-State. He has 13 double-doubles in his career, including going for 26 points and 22 rebounds in a win over Rhode Island while playing at VCU. Santos-Silva, who has a bachelor’s degree in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness from VCU, was named to the 2022 Academic All-Big 12 Second Team as a graduate student at Tech. He was also an Atlantic 10 All-Academic selection before transferring. Santos-Silva is currently averaging 3.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Tech’s bench is strong with talent in Mylik Wilson, Daniel Batcho, Clarence Nadolny, Chibuzo Agbo and KJ Allen who are poised to make impacts whenever they get on the court. Nadolny did not play against Montana State as a precaution to an injury and scored two points in 10 minutes of play against Notre Dame. He produced 14 points off the bench in the win at Texas in 20 minutes of play in Austin and a career-high 17 points in the win over No. 6 Kansas in Lawrence by going 6 of 13 from the field in 34 minutes of play. Nadolny is averaging 3.6 points, 0.9 assists and 1.0 steals per game. Nadolny had made three straight starts to open Big 12 before playing the rest of the season as a reserve. He finished Big 12 play with 4.6 points and was second on the team with 20 steals in conference play. Nadolny scored in double figures for the second time in his career against Baylor in Waco where he went for 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting. A junior from France, Nadolny is in his third season at Tech and has played in 80 games – getting his first start of his career in the conference opener at Iowa State. He had a career-high four steals in the loss at Iowa State where he also had nine points. Nadolny missed the first three games of the season due to off-season hip surgery.
Wilson had two points and two steals in the win over Montana State where he also threw down a 360 dunk in the final minute that was called off due to a traveling violation being called. It will live on despite whistle. Prior to the NCAA Tournament, he matched a season-high with three blocked shots against K-State in the home finale, including rejecting a 3-point attempt by Nijel Pack with 13 seconds remaining to try and tie the game. He now has 17 blocks this season and 60 in his career. A transfer from Louisiana, he currently has 221 assists after three against KU in the tournament finals, 750 points and 363 rebounds through 86 games played in his collegiate career. He scored a season-high 12 points against Mississippi State where he was 6 of 6 from the free-throw line. Wilson, who had a season-high four steals against UT in Lubbock and had five rebounds against the Longhorns in Austin, missed five games after minor knee surgery but has now played 22 in a row – returning to lead Tech with five assists in the win over Kansas on January 8 in his first game back. He is at 2.6 points and 1.7 rebounds in 31 games played. Wilson started five of the first six games of the season and had a season-high seven assists in the opener against North Florida. He scored a career-high 30 points two seasons ago while at Louisiana in a game at Appalachian State on January 6, 2020. Batcho is a freshman from Paris, France who transferred from Arizona where he redshirted last season before deciding to transfer while Agbo is a sophomore who has played in 45 games as a Red Raider. Batcho recorded a career-high four blocks at WVU where he also had six points and three rebounds in 13 minutes of play and secured a career-high 11 rebounds in the win over Tennessee in the Jimmy V Classic win. He had four rebounds in the win over Montana State and one rebound against the Irish. Batcho also had 10 rebounds and scored six points in the win over Omaha after producing eight rebounds and eight points against Incarnate Word in his breakout game at Tech. The tallest Red Raider at 6-foot-11, Batcho is averaging 2.8 rebounds and 2.3 points per game. Agbo scored a career-high eight points in the win over Montana State where he was 2-for-2 on 3-pointers and 3 of 3 from the field in six minutes of play. A San Diego native, Agbo’s homecoming topped his previous season-high of seven points against Omaha earlier this season after he had six points in the 2021 NCAA Tournament against Arkansas where he hit two second-half 3-pointers in the second-round matchup. He did not play in the win over Notre Dame. Allen is in his first season at Tech after transferring from East Los Angeles College where he averaged 18.5 points and 9.3 rebounds, had 11 double-doubles and starred in the Netflix series Last Chance U: Basketball during his freshman season of 2019-20. Allen recorded career-high eight rebounds and matched a season-best with six points against K-State in the home finale. Three of his eight rebounds against KSU were on the offensive end of the court to give him 12 offensive rebounds this season. He is averaging 2.1 points and 1.9 rebounds per game this season in 19 games played after playing for 3:38 in the first round of the tournament.
A true freshman from Lubbock, Ethan Duncan is redshirting this season after suffering an off-season shoulder injury that required surgery. Austin Timperman made his debut against EWU after becoming eligible at midterm. A walk-on from The Woodlands, Timperman transferred to Tech as a student last year after being in UTSA’s team during the 2019-20 season where he played in six games. Sardaar Calhoun entered the transfer portal on Jan. 11 and is no longer with the team. At midyear, Tech added Jaylon Tyson to the roster after he decided to transfer from the University of Texas. Tyson will be able to practice with the team, but is not eligible to play until the 2022-23 season.
DUKE BLUE DEVIL REPORT
Second-seeded Duke comes into the Sweet Sixteen following wins over Cal State Fullerton and Michigan State in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The No. 9-ranked Blue Devils are led by freshman forward Paolo Banchero who is averaging a team-best 17 points and 7.9 rebounds per game while being second on the team in assists averaging 3.2 per game. A finalist for the Wooden Award, ACC Freshman of the Year and All-ACC First Team honoree, Banchero is averaging 18 points and 8.5 rebounds in NCAA Tournament play. Junior guard Wendell Moore Jr. is second on the team in scoring putting up 13.5 points per game. All-ACC Second Team and All-ACC Defensive Team honoree, Moore Jr. leads the team in assists averaging 4.6 per game and steals averaging 1.4 per game. Freshmen wings Trevor Keels and AJ Griffin are third and fifth on the team in scoring, respectively. They combine for 22 points per game and 7.6 rebounds per game. The All-ACC Freshman Team honorees were a part of a Duke recruiting class that ranked sixth in the country with the likes of Keels, Griffin and Banchero who were all five-star prospects and the top-rated player in their respective states. Mark Williams is the fourth leading scorer on the team putting up 11.2 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. The All-ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Williams is leading the Blue Devils in blocks with 104 which ranks 10th in the country. Sophomore guard Jeremy Roach, who splits time as a starter and sixth man with Griffin and Keels, is averaging 8.4 points and 3.1 assists per game. An efficient facilitator, Roach has an assist to turnover ratio of 2.1 which ranks second on the team for a team that has the third-best assist to turnover ratio in the country. Seniors Joey Baker and Theo John round out the rest of the contributors for Duke. They combine for 23.3 minutes, 7.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
The Blue Devils have a 30-6 record on the season and won the ACC regular-season title going 16-4 in conference play. They are led by Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski who is in his 41st and final season at Duke. The all-time winningest coach in Division I history, Krzyzewski has 99 wins in the NCAA Tournament including five national titles.
DOMINATING THE PAINT
Texas Tech has outscored 34 of 36 opponents inside the paint this season and own a combined 1,188-618 scoring advantage. The Red Raiders owned a 38-16 margin against Montana State and then a 24-10 margin over Notre Dame. Game-by-game points from the paint are listed below.
TTU 54 – UNF 20; TTU 30 – GRM 16; TTU 38 – PVAMU 20; TTU 40 – UIW 24; TTU 54 – UNO 10; TTU 26 – LMR 20; TTU 30 – PC 22; TTU 28 – TENN 26; TTU 40 – ARK ST. 12; TTU 26 – GONZ 16; TTU 40 – EWU 4; TTU 36 – ALB ST. 8; TTU 28 – ISU 6; TTU 44 – KU 18; TTU 36 – BU 22; TTU 30 – OSU 20; TTU 30 – ISU 26; TTU 30 – WVU 16; TTU 46 – KU 40; TTU 44 – MISS ST. 16; TTU 30 – UT 24; TTU 34 – WVU 10; TTU 30 – OU 18; TTU 38 – TCU 20; TTU 28 – BU 22; TTU 26 – UT 10; TTU 34 – OU 16; TTU 40 – TCU 30; TTU 36 – KSU 10; TTU 22 – OSU 26; TTU 42 – ISU 14; OU 26 – TTU 22; TTU 36 – KU 30; TTU 38 – MSU 16; TTU 24 – ND 10.
AN ALL-TIME LOW
The 41 points Tech limited Iowa State to in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals are the fewest points a Big 12 opponent has ever been held to in Red Raider history. TTU had limited Oklahoma to only 42 points in the 66-42 win on Feb. 22 by holding the Sooners to only 37.8 percent and only one offensive rebound which matched the Tech record in Big 12 play. The other low came by holding TCU to 42 points in an 88-42 win on Feb. 10, 2020 in Lubbock.
HOME DOMINANCE
The Red Raiders completed a perfect home season where they were 18-0 overall and 9-0 by sweeping conference games. Tech outscored its opponents by a 79.7 to 58.8 scoring margin (1,434-1,058) in games at the United Supermarkets Arena. Tech’s 18-0 record at home this season was matched only by No. 4 Kentucky nationally. No. 2 Arizona ran off a 17-0 home record, while No. 1 Gonzaga finished its regular season with a 16-0 record in Spokane. The Red Raiders were the only Big 12 team without a loss at home this season. Tech is currently on a 21-game home winning streak dating back to last season where it finished the year with home wins over Texas, TCU and Iowa State and have the second longest streak behind a 67-game run from Gonzaga. Tech has had 14,000-plus fans in 11 of 18 games this season and has recorded sellouts against Mississippi State, Iowa State, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas State. The program set a new attendance record with 15,300 fans at the February 1 game against the Longhorns.
HISTORIC RUN
Texas Tech has ascended into one of the top college basketball programs in the nation. The program advanced to the 2018 NCAA Elite 8 and then reached the 2019 Final Four for the first time in program history. The Red Raiders won the 2019 Big 12 regular-season championship before making their historic run in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Tech started the postseason journey with wins over Northern Kentucky and Buffalo in the first and second rounds hosted in Tulsa and then went through Michigan and Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 in Anaheim. TTU topped Michigan State in the Final Four in Minneapolis before falling to Virginia in the 2019 NCAA Championship Final in overtime. The national runner-up finish is the best showing in program history. McCullar is the only player on the current roster who was on the Final Four team, while Adams and Sutton remain from the staff. The final step of ascension for the program is now only four wins away.
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