Texas Tech Basketball will need big defensive performance to beat Arkansas
Texas Tech Basketball secured a second-round berth with defense. I stressed it in my previous article, but the key to their success this season has been defense. When they hold teams under 65 points, they almost guarantee themselves a win. The Red Raiders, right on queue, held Utah State to 53 points on 44% shooting, including 21% from 3-point range.
The Aggies were a team averaging 73 points per game entering Friday’s matchup and Texas Tech’s defense absolutely shut them down; it was an elite defensive effort. The question now is can the Red Raiders replicate this effort and defensive pressure against a more balanced team in the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Arkansas has a high-powered offense and they showed it in their first-round game against Colgate. Granted Colgate is a relatively weak opponent, but Arkansas put a beating on them and ran away with the game scoring 49 points in the second half alone.
Arkansas’ key to victory, interestingly enough, was defense as well. They forced Colgate into 22 turnovers, 13 of them steals. I expect this second-round matchup between Texas Tech and Arkansas to be an old-school, low-scoring battle where the team that makes fewer mistakes will come out on top.
A few days ago, I was concerned about Texas Tech advancing far in the Tournament due to inconsistent play towards the end of the season. However, they very much surprised me against Utah State and they look dangerous.
The Red Raiders could make a run at this thing and I would not be surprised if they end up in the Elite 8 against a Baylor team, that itself has some unanswered questions since returning from their COVID hiatus in January.
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Texas Tech versus Arkansas will be one of the most exciting second-round matchups and I expect Texas Tech to come out on top behind another strong defensive effort and a better shooting performance from Mac McClung.