Texas Tech Falls to Alabama in Round of 32

TAMPA, FL — No. 5 Texas Tech’s season ended Sunday with a 90-65 loss to No. 4 Alabama in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region second round.

“What a tough night for our team,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “Alabama was awesome. I thought they were so much more aggressive on both ends of the floor."

"They got after us defensively. They disrupted us, and then they were downhill on every action. I just thought they were in attack mode. Ran into a team that I thought was more determined, that was tougher than we were, and that's always our standard for winning.”

The Red Raiders (23-11) struggled offensively and were overwhelmed early, falling behind by 24 points at halftime and never recovering. Alabama (25-9) advanced to its fourth consecutive Sweet 16 behind a dominant performance from beyond the arc.

Texas Tech, one of the nation’s top 3-point shooting teams entering the game, was held to a season-low 4-for-25 (16%) from deep. Alabama, meanwhile, made 19 3-pointers and controlled the game throughout.

LeJuan Watts led Texas Tech with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Donovan Atwell added 12 points and Leon Horner scored 10 off the bench. Christian Anderson finished with seven points, three assists and four steals.

Alabama was paced by Latrell Wrightsell, who scored 24 points and made six 3-pointers. Houston Mallette added 15 points, while Labaron Philon recorded 12 assists to go with nine points and six rebounds.

The Crimson Tide built a 49-25 halftime lead behind 11 first-half 3-pointers and a strong rebounding effort. Alabama outrebounded Texas Tech 47-35 and converted second-chance opportunities into points throughout the game.

Texas Tech shot 34.4% from the field and finished with eight assists.

“I told these guys, games like this make you kind of go, is it worth it?” McCasland said. “I told them it is. It's always worth giving everything you have, no matter what. Especially being a part of a team like this, with guys that you love and that you care about."

"I mean, I love this team, and I'm extremely disappointed I wasn't able to do a better job helping us be ready to go tonight. But give Alabama a ton of credit, man, they were awesome. They were tougher than we were.”

Despite the loss, the Red Raiders closed the season with a program-record 384 made 3-pointers and a 39.1% shooting mark from beyond the arc.

Alabama advances to face No. 1 Michigan in the Sweet 16 next week in Chicago.