At the end of a deflating 85-83 overtime loss to Texas Tech in Thursday night’s West regional semifinals, John Calipari displayed little emotion as he walked toward the opposing bench with his hand outstretched.
“Good win,” he told Red Raiders coach Grant McCasland.
It was undeniably a spirited comeback by Texas Tech. It was also undeniably an inexcusable collapse from Arkansas.
For 35-plus minutes, the 10th-seeded Razorbacks were in control. For 35-plus minutes, they looked like the top-three seed. Texas Tech struggled to generate clean looks at the rim driving into a thicket of long, athletic interior defenders, nor could the Red Raiders consistently knock down perimeter jumpers. Arkansas led by 13 points with less than 4½ minutes to go. The Razorbacks appeared headed for an improbable Elite Eight.
When Arkansas reflects on what went wrong from then on, there won’t be just one person to blame. A hail of rushed shots, questionable decisions and mental mistakes were the difference between the Razorbacks flying home on Friday or preparing to play Florida with a spot in the Final Four at stake.
(Ezra Shaw via Getty Images)
Texas Tech’s comeback began innocuously with a 3-pointer from Christian Anderson, the Red Raiders’ best 3-point shooter with Chance McMillian still sidelined by a painful oblique injury. Jonas Aidoo gave Anderson a sliver too much space with his ball-screen defense, but that was understandable considering Anderson had been ice-cold prior to that from behind the arc.
Arkansas’ mistakes that followed were more egregious. There was a careless turnover by Billy Richmond that led to a Texas Tech basket. There was an ill-advised quick 3-point attempt after an offensive rebound by D.J. Wagner, a 30.5% shooter from behind the arc. And there was Johnell Davis momentarily falling asleep after securing a defensive rebound with Arkansas up six and 1:15 to go, enabling the Red Raiders to gain a tie-up and possession in a spot where they should have had to foul.
That all culminated in Texas Tech gaining a chance to tie the game with a 3-pointer on its final possession of regulation. At first, it seemed Anderson had found a matchup he liked against Davis, but he turned down a step-back 3-pointer and fed Darrion Williams spotted up well behind the arc on the right wing. Williams had missed eight of his first nine 3-pointers, but this time he made Karter Knox pay for giving him too much space, tying the game at 72 with 9.7 seconds to play.
“A kid who was 1-for-9 makes it and it was contested,” Calipari said. “I mean, sometimes that stuff is stuff that happens in these games.”
