“The heart of the team is Darrion Williams,” coach Grant McCasland said. “He just is a resilient guy. I can’t even explain it. I put faith in him because I do believe that he’ll find a way in one-game scenarios to do whatever it takes to win. I honestly do. Whatever it takes.”
The first overtime game of March Madness came thanks to a furious comeback by the third-seeded Red Raiders (28-8) from 13 points down with less than 5 minutes left against coach John Calipari's 10th-seeded Razorbacks (22-14).
Texas Tech advanced to play top-seeded Florida in the West Region final on Saturday with a chance at the school's second Final Four trip after losing the title game to Virginia in 2019.
That idea seemed far-fetched for most of this game as Arkansas broke out to a double-digit lead early and was in control most of the way, leading by as many as 16 points in the second half.
“In the huddle, Coach said we’re going to find a way to win this no matter how much we’re down,” guard Christian Anderson said. “As a team we had that look, we’re not losing this game no matter what. ... We had to find a way to make it happen. And at the end we did, so that was it.”
Williams helped will the Red Raiders down the stretch after opening the game by missing 13 of his 15 shots in front of a large contingent of his friends and family that came from Sacramento for the game.
But the Red Raiders closed regulation with a 16-3 run behind three 3-pointers from Anderson and three baskets from Williams. The biggest came when he rattled in a 3 with 9.7 seconds left after Jonas Aidoo had missed the front end of a one-and-one.
Williams had missed eight of his first nine attempts from 3 before that make.
"Obviously they weren’t going in, but I was shooting open ones", Williams said. “They’ll fall.”
JT Toppin then scored to start overtime and give Texas Tech its first lead since the opening minutes and it went back and forth from there, with D.J. Wagner tying it for Arkansas with 34 seconds left.
Williams then scored down low to give Texas Tech the lead and Wagner's last shot hit the front rim, sending the Red Raiders into a wild celebration at midcourt as Williams pointed to the crowd following the second biggest comeback in Sweet 16 history.
Calipari could only walk off the court with pursed lips and a sigh as his first season at Arkansas ended in heartbreak after he fell just short of being the first coach to take four schools to the Elite Eight.
“We’re all disappointed here,” Calipari said. “But I told them, there’s nothing them individually or my team could do to disappoint me because of what they’ve done this year. I’m so proud of them.”
Anderson scored 22 points to lead Texas Tech, while Toppin and Williams added 20 apiece.
Johnell Davis scored 30 points for the Razorbacks and Karter Knox added 20.
No Chance
The Red Raiders were missing a key player once again with top outside shooter Chance McMillian missing his fourth straight game with an oblique injury. McMillian, who grew up in San Francisco, had been hoping to play in his homecoming game but was ruled out before tipoff.
Arkansas got forward Adou Thiero back for the first time since he injured his left knee on Feb. 22. Thiero played five minutes.
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