Texas Tech Closes Strong To Defeat Purdue And Advance To The Elite Eight
Chris Beard is going to be a star in the coaching game. Actually, scratch that, he is a star in this field. What he’s been able to do in a short amount of time at his Division I stops is pretty unreal, but none better than this Texas Tech season. He has the Red Raiders in their first ever Elite Eight after a 78-65 win over Purdue today in Boston.
How were they able to beat Purdue so easily despite Carsen Edwards scoring 30 points? Simple, it answered everything in the second half. Purdue kept cutting the lead to 2 or 3 during the early part-mid part of the half. It let Keenan Evans take over the game, putting him in ball screens. He was able to read the screens and when the defense hedged hard, he’d make the open pass. He finished the game with 16 points and 4 assists, most of which came in the last 10 minutes of the game, because that’s also part of his game. Evans is arguably the best closer in college basketball as he always seems to come alive late in the clock.
Ultimately it was Texas Tech’s defense though that held true. This is one of the best defensive teams in the country as I talked about their ability to rotate defenses depending on matchups. They were able to hold Purdue – a damn good offensive team – to long stretches of limited offense. Outside of Carsen Edwards, no one was really able to get going. That was part on Purdue, but also on Tech’s defense. They were able to force turnovers against a team that simply doesn’t turn the ball over.
Part of the story with Purdue is obviously the Isaac Haas injury. Now, I don’t know if he would have erased the 13 point difference (most likely not) but his absence did let Tech do things a little different defensively. They dared Matt Haarms to beat them. Then when Purdue tried to get Haarms the ball in the post, they swarmed him, forcing him to make quick decisions in an environment he’s not quite comfortable with. That allowed guys to stay home on dudes like Dakota Mathias.
Texas Tech now plays Villanova on Sunday to try and make its first Final Four.