GAME PREVIEW: Texas Tech vs. Arkansas

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The No. 3 Texas Tech Red Raiders square off against the No. 10 Arkansas Razorbacks in the Sweet 16 at the Chase Center on Thursday night in San Francisco.

Game Information

• Location: Chase Center, San Francisco, Calif.
• Tipoff: 9:09 p.m. CDT / 7:09 p.m. PDT, Thursday, March 27
• TV: TBS or truTV (Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, Stan Van Gundy, Lauren Shehadi)
• Radio: Westwood One (Ryan Radtke, P.J. Carlesimo); Texas Tech Sports Network (Geoff Haxton, Chris Level)

The West Region matchup will be broadcast on TBS or truTV, with radio coverage on the Texas Tech Sports Network (Double T 97.3) and nationally through Westwood One.

The Red Raiders (27-8) are making their seventh appearance in the Sweet 16 and second at the Chase Center, where they fell to Duke in 2022. Texas Tech advanced with wins over No. 14 UNC Wilmington (82-72) and No. 11 Drake (77-64) in Wichita. Arkansas (22-13) reached the regional semifinal with victories over No. 7 Kansas and No. 2 St. John’s.

“What a fantastic opportunity for the Red Raiders to be in San Francisco and to be playing in the Sweet 16," Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. "Our guys are excited to be here and play a tremendous opponent in Arkansas. And I know Coach Cal has the Razorbacks playing great basketball and we know we'll have to play our best in order to put ourselves in position to win."

Texas Tech has won six of its last seven games and is now 6-1 in March. The program is 21-21 all-time in NCAA Tournament play, including Elite Eight appearances in 2018 and 2019 and a national runner-up finish in 2019.

McCasland, in his second season at the helm, is the first coach in Texas Tech history to reach 50 wins in his first two years (50-19). The Red Raiders have remained in the AP Top 10 for five consecutive weeks and finished second in the Big 12 with a program-record 15 conference wins.

Red Raiders By the Numbers

JT Toppin leads Tech with 18.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. The Big 12 Player of the Year has tallied 17 double-doubles this season and surpassed 1,000 career points during the tournament. Darrion Williams (14.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 3.7 apg) and Chance McMillian (14.2 ppg, 52.5 FG%) round out Tech’s top scorers, while freshman Christian Anderson adds 10.5 points per game.

Point guard Elijah Hawkins has been instrumental with 214 assists and just 63 turnovers. His 3.40 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks fifth nationally. He also became Texas Tech’s all-time single-season assist leader during the tournament.

Tech has nine players with NCAA Tournament experience and is 2-0 in the postseason with a high-volume offense (13 made threes vs. UNCW) and dominant interior presence (50-20 scoring advantage in the paint vs. Drake). Hawkins, Toppin and Williams combined for 69 of Tech’s 77 points in the Second Round.

About Arkansas

The Razorbacks have won seven of their last 10 games after a rocky 0-5 start to SEC play. They defeated Kansas and St. John’s to reach the Sweet 16, led by transfer Johnell Davis, who is averaging 15.5 points in the tournament. Arkansas overcame a cold shooting night from beyond the arc (2-for-19) in its upset of St. John’s with a 46-38 edge in the paint and a 19-for-27 showing at the free-throw line.

The biggest thing is their team's improvement. If you ask me about anybody, I would say how resilient are you when things don't go your way," McCasland continued. "That's the biggest compliment I could give this team that Coach Cal -- seems like he always believes in them and gets them to believe in themselves and figure out a way as the identities change in these programs, with some players being available."

Karter Knox (15 points vs. St. John’s), Jonas Aidoo (22 vs. Kansas), and D.J. Wagner (14 vs. Kansas) have added scoring depth, while Trevon Brazile is averaging 10.0 rebounds per game in the tournament. Leading scorer Adou Thiero (15.6 ppg) has missed the last eight games due to injury.

Arkansas ranks fourth nationally in blocks per game (5.7) and is averaging 76.6 points per game on 46.4% shooting. John Calipari is in his first season as head coach of the Razorbacks and owns an 835-274 career record, including a Final Four appearance with Kentucky in 2015.

Series History

This marks the 81st meeting between the two former Southwest Conference rivals. The all-time series is tied 40-40. Arkansas won the only NCAA Tournament meeting between the two programs in 2021, a 68-66 Second Round decision at Hinkle Fieldhouse.