TAMPA, Fla. — This was an outright ambush.
The Alabama Crimson Tide routed the Texas Tech Red Raiders, 90-65, in an uncompetitive second-round men's NCAA Tournament game in front of 17,996 fans Sunday night at Benchmark International Arena. Seemingly nothing went wrong for Alabama, and seemingly nothing went right for Texas Tech. Alabama maintained its defensive pressure throughout the game, even when playing with a massive lead in the final minutes.
The fourth-seeded Crimson Tide (25-9) advance to face No. 1 seed Michigan (33-3) on Friday in Chicago in the Sweet 16 of the Midwest Region.
Latrell Wrightsell Jr. scored a game-high 24 points, and Houston Mallette added 15 points for the Crimson Tide. Labaron Philon Jr. contributed nine points and 12 assists. Alabama played without suspended guard Aden Holloway, the team’s second-leading scorer, who was arrested last week and faces felony drug charges.
Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats saluted his team's three seniors — Wrightsell, Mallette and Noah Williamson — for setting the tone against fifth-seeded Texas Tech.
"All three of these seniors came with the mentality, we're not going home," Oats said. "And you could tell it. And I tell our guys all the time, just be about the right stuff. Lose yourself in the game, and the other stuff takes care of itself."
Said Mallette: "The big thing is, we love each other, man. … I don't want to leave Alabama. I will die for this school."
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Alabama dominated in nearly every statistical category on its way to a fourth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance:
● The Tide outshot the Red Raiders from the field — 44% to 34%.
● They outshot Texas Tech 45% to 16% on 3-pointers.
● They outrebounded the Red Raiders, 47-35.
● They recorded 25 assists to Texas Tech's eight.
● They outscored the Red Raiders 15-5 on fast-break points.
You get the idea.
"We came out there with an energy and effort that wasn't matched today, and we played for each other," Wrightsell said. "We played to move on, but we also played one possession at a time. We didn't take it for granted. We just wanted to get a stop and a bucket each possession at a time. And it was never looking at the bigger picture, never looking at the score, just one possession at a time."
LeJuan Watts led Texas Tech (23-11) with 16 points and seven rebounds. But the scrappy Red Raiders finally ran out of gas after losing Big 12 Player of the Year JT Toppin to a season-ending ACL tear on Feb. 17.
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Texas Tech led exactly once Sunday: 2-0. It was just about all downhill from there.
Alabama caught fire and took a 27-10 lead with 9:30 left in the half. By the time Texas Tech's Leon Horner made a floating jump shot as time expired in the first half, the Tide led 49-25.
"When you just lose yourself in the game, lock into playing defense, making the effort, plays, getting stops, getting rebounds, that stuff takes care of itself," Oats said. "And I think this game exemplified it as much as any game you've ever seen. So I thought these guys were about the right stuff."
Looking ahead, the Crimson Tide will face a stiffer test from the Wolverines. But Alabama should feel confident after playing such a complete game against Texas Tech. The Tide won't be intimidated.
"If we guard like we did tonight, particularly at the point of attack with our guards, we can compete with anybody in the country," Oats said. "Obviously, Michigan's movement, and they got ridiculous size all over the place. We're gonna have to rebound. Our bigs are gonna have to bring it."
