Texas Tech is Elite: Red Raiders rally from 16 down to top Arkansas in OT
SAN FRANCISCO — Darrion Williams grew up in Sacramento before moving to Las Vegas. Asked if there was an increase in the usual amount of ticket requests for a Sweet 16 game against Arkansas, the Texas Tech wing answered affirmatively and with a smile. And now the list might get longer for Saturday night.
Advertisement
Williams hit a 3-pointer to cap a massive comeback in regulation and then backed his way into a game-winner at the rim with seven seconds left in overtime, sending the Red Raiders to an 85-83 win over the Razorbacks and into an Elite Eight matchup with No. 1 seed Florida.
Texas Tech trailed by as many as 16 points and was down 13 with four and a half minutes to play. It appeared as though John Calipari would storm back into an Elite Eight for the first time in six years, after an ugly divorce with Kentucky and a move 700 miles west to Fayetteville. It appeared the SEC would guarantee itself a Final Four participant with a matchup of two of its record 14 NCAA Tournament entrants at the Chase Center on Saturday.
D5. CLUTCH. AGAIN!
THE SECOND LARGEST COMEBACK EVER IN THE SWEET 16!#TTW | 📺 TBS pic.twitter.com/zndRzXTUQt
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) March 28, 2025
Instead, Arkansas put the ball in the hands of sophomore D.J. Wagner for three of the biggest shots of the game, despite getting 30 points from Johnell Davis and 20 from Karter Knox on the night. Wagner missed a potential game-winner at the end of regulation, tied it before Williams' heroics in overtime and then came up short on a jumper as time expired.
It was, to be polite, not the best offensive night for Texas Tech or Williams, its 6-foot-6 junior hero, on the whole. The team's second-leading scorer missed his first four shots and wound up shooting just 8-for-26 overall. The team hit just 41 percent from the game. But that included a 5-for-6 showing in overtime, which was just enough to nudge past the Razorbacks.
The deficit was 13 points with four and a half minutes left to play, the Red Raiders left with only slivers of a chance by the metrics. When freshman Christian Anderson drained a 3-pointer with 2:06 to play, Texas Tech had gone on a 10-0 run, cut the deficit to three and goaded Arkansas into a timeout to discuss how not to blow what seemed like a fait accompli.
Advertisement
The suddenly stagnant Arkansas offense found its answer where it had all night: beyond the arc. A Knox corner 3-pointer beat the shot clock and built the lead back to six. But Anderson then drained another 3-pointer to answer with a little more than a minute remaining, and once again, Texas Tech forced Arkansas into a late shot-clock look.
This time, Trevon Brazile bricked a look from long range. But another 3-pointer from Anderson came up short down the other end. Jonas Aidoo then missed the front end of a one-and-one, and when the clock didn't begin to roll on the rebound, it afforded Texas Tech a free timeout to draw up a set with 24.6 seconds left, trailing 72-69.
Nothing worked, and the ball found its way into Williams' hands. He hoisted from deep and made just his second 3-pointer in 10 attempts to tie the game at 72-72 with 9.7 seconds left in regulation. Instead of getting the ball into either the hands of Davis or Knox, Calipari let Wagner pick up steam and drive for a decisive score. The former five-star recruit's off-balance floater didn't fall, extending the night by at least five minutes.
Arkansas and Texas Tech effectively traded scores or stops for the first two and a half minutes of overtime. Davis was then swatted on a drive to the rim and Toppin followed with a score in the paint to nudge Texas Tech ahead 81-78 with 1:41 left.
No one could catch their breath, still. Brazile stepped into a top-of-key 3-pointer out of a timeout to tie it at 81-81. Toppin answered with a hook in the lane. Wagner made an impossible shot in the lane. Williams then backed down toward the rim and effectively willed a shot to go down. When Wagner's jumper at the horn came up short, it was Texas Tech — not Arkansas — ending an Elite Eight absence a half a dozen years long and doing so with the second-biggest comeback ever in a Sweet 16 game.
(Photo of Darrion Williams: Eakin Howard / Imagn Images)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Five questions facing Michigan State basketball heading into 2025-26 season
Five questions facing Michigan State basketball heading into 2025-26 season Michigan State basketball just came off one of their best seasons in recent memory, winning their first Big Ten Championship since the days of Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman before going on to make the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament. However, the Spartans lost multiple key players this summer, with Jaden Akins, Jase Richardson, and Tre Holloman all moving on. Now, Tom Izzo and his staff will need to answer a lot of questions this summer and next season. We outlined five questions that his staff will need to tackle, among others, if they want to sustain the success we saw last year: 1. Will Jeremy Fears Jr. become a double-digit per game scorer? Jeremy Fears Jr. is the classic Tom Izzo point guard. He defends, he gets out and runs in transition every chance he gets, and he's ostensibly a pass-first player. That was perfect last year, but now, MSU will need to replace their top two scorers last year, and I think for this team to replace that production, Fears will need to average double-digits in scoring. Fears is kind of a mystery box at this point. He missed most of his first year after being shot in the leg. That also cost him a summer of development. We know that he has not looked very comfortable shooting the ball thus far in his career, but could that change with a full summer of training under his belt for the first time as a college player? If not, there are other ways to become more of a scoring threat, and he will need to find a few weapons on that end to keep defenses honest. 2. Is Coen Carr a legitimate two-way star? The development of Coen Carr was possibly the biggest storyline of last season for the Spartans. Carr went from being a rotation player to being arguably the best player on the team. The biggest development last year was on the defensive end, where Carr seemed to finally unlock his athleticism and how to use it to frustrate some of the top scorers in the country. The next step he will look to take is on the offensive end. He has shown some skill as a driver, which could be where his offense comes from next year, but what would really throw gas on the fire is if he can develop himself into a reliable three-point shooter. If he can even get to about 35-percent from three, I am expecting him to be a lottery pick next year, he's just that good. 3. How ready is Cam Ward? When I wrote an article about which players on this year's roster have the most NBA potential, I had Cam Ward all the way at No. 2, just behind Coen Carr. Now, will he show that potential this year? We have no idea, but it's one of the most interesting questions going into the season. In another article where I tried to project the rotation for next year, I hypothesized that Cam Ward will end up getting minutes this year. I think his talent will be too undeniable to keep on the bench. But how ready will he be? Will we just see him get a few minutes here or there when MSU has a sizable lead? Or, will he be someone who helps actually drive winning? We should start to hear some whispers about how he's doing soon. 4. Does Jaxon Kohler have another leap in him? Jaxon Kohler was sneakily the Spartans' second-best three-point shooter last year, hitting 37.3-percent of his shots from distance. That's a very encouraging sign, because MSU has seemed insistent on playing Kohler, who is a bit of a 'tweener', at the four spot instead of at center. If he's going to remain in that role, he will need to keep hitting those shots. Kohler jumped all the way from two points per game in 2023-24 to just under eight points per game in 2024-25. Does he have another leap in him? Or, will he lose some ground to the aforementioned Cam Ward and incoming transfer Kaleb Glenn? Like Fears, the Spartans really need to get double-digit scoring out of that position to replace what they are losing, and Kohler, as an offensive-minded big, theoretically should be able to increase his production. 5. Will this team be able to match last year's defensive output? Last year, in my opinion, we saw one of Tom Izzo's best defensive teams ever. We saw them shut down multiple teams and they were in the top-50 for scoring defense. However, MSU is losing some of their best defenders in Jaden Akins and Tre Holloman. Even Jase Richardson was a positive on that end as well. Tom Izzo is replacing them with Kaleb Glenn and Trey Fort, and Glenn has not been known for his defensive acumen. They are also losing Szymon Zapala and those minutes should go to Jesse McCulloch, a player who recently converted to center. I personally think the defense will take a step back this year, but you just hope it's not a major step back if they want to try and make another deep run. Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Andrew Brewster on Twitter @IAmBrewster.
USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
Auburn basketball learns opponent for 2025 ACC-SEC challenge
Auburn basketball learns opponent for 2025 ACC-SEC challenge Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers will face a former SEC head coach in this year's edition of the ACC-SEC Challenge. The 2024 ACC-SEC Challenge was a huge success for the SEC, who posted a 14-2 record in the event. Auburn, unfortunately, was not on the winning side of last year's challenge, falling to Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina, 84-78. This year, the Tigers will aim for revenge in front of their home crowd as they will host the NC State Wolfpack at Neville Arena for this year's edition of the ACC-SEC Challenge, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reports. This year's matchup is intriguing as it will pit Auburn's Bruce Pearl against former LSU head coach Will Wade, who is set to begin his first season as the Wolfpack's head coach after spending the last two seasons at McNeese State. Wade is set to take on the challenge of building NC State back into an ACC contender after the program recorded a 38-34 record, with a 14-26 mark in ACC play over the last two seasons under Kevin Keatts. Wade won 105 games in five seasons at LSU. Since arriving in Raleigh, Wade has worked tirelessly in his rebuilding efforts through the transfer portal by landing former North Carolina forward Ven-Allen Lubin, former Houston forward Terrance Arceneaux, and ex-Texas Tech forward Darrion Williams. He also landed the nation's No. 14 recruiting class with four-star guard Matt Able headlining the haul. Auburn basketball will nearly start from scratch with its roster following last season's Final Four run. Auburn signed key players, including Mississippi State forward Keshawn Murphy, the Big 12's leading scorer Keyshawn Hall, and a talented wing player in Elyjah Freeman this offseason. Pearl also landed a top-20 recruiting class that features two JUCO stars and a pair of four-stars from the high school ranks. This season's matchup with NC State has the makings of a classic. Here is a look at the complete lineup for this season's ACC-SEC Challenge. Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
ICE's go-to charter airline for deportations also flew NCAA teams, Inter Miami and more
Cheers greeted the Memphis men's basketball team as it emerged from an Airbus A320 on the night of March 16. The plane had carried the team from Fort Worth, Texas, to Memphis International Airport, and the flight home was a joyous one. The 16th-ranked Tigers were American Athletic Conference tournament champions and NCAA Tournament-bound. The trophy, topped by a large silver basketball, was buckled into a seat next to head coach Penny Hardaway. On the tarmac, cameras flashed. Hardaway gave well-wishers a thumbs-up. Players high-fived fans. Advertisement Less than 12 hours later, the same Airbus A320 – tail number N281GX – flew from El Paso, Texas, to Tapachula, Mexico. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) flight transported 105 men, seven women and one child. Handcuffs, leg irons, and a waist chain likely restrained most adults' wrists and ankles. Guards monitored the cabin. After landing in Tapachula, the sullen passengers filed off the plane, met by Mexican authorities in safety vests. Both flights were operated by Global Crossing Airlines, commonly referred to as GlobalX, a charter company based in Miami. In the last eight months, the company has transported athletic teams from Arkansas, Kentucky, Houston, Kansas, Marquette, Memphis, Miami, North Carolina and St. John's, among others. During March Madness, GlobalX planes carried the Duke men back from the Final Four and the UConn women home after winning the national title. GlobalX also has ferried professional teams, including Inter Miami CF and its star, Lionel Messi. At the same time, GlobalX has operated more than half of ICE deportation flights. The airline regularly shuttles deportees to Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and elsewhere, sometimes on the same planes that only hours or days earlier carried sports teams. The Trump administration's controversial March 15 deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia and more than 200 others to El Salvador involved three GlobalX planes. Two of them carried college basketball teams in the weeks prior. Advertisement 'When you get asked to do an NCAA flight, you feel lighter,' said a former GlobalX pilot who spoke on the condition he not be identified. 'If your team wins, you get the honor of transporting the winning team. It's just a feeling of accomplishment. For me doing an ICE flight, I don't want to be dramatic and say it's like a death sentence, but I hated it.' The system of chartered ICE flights – referred to as ICE Air – has operated for more than a decade, spanning presidential administrations, immigration policies and airlines. The flights have long drawn criticism from human rights advocates, raising concerns about mistreatment of detainees, safety and a lack of transparency. Less spotlighted has been the crossover between GlobalX's sports charters and ICE Air, as universities and sports organizations unwittingly support a company deeply involved in and profiting from deportation flights. 'They may not have known, but now they do, so now they have a choice to make,' said Ann Skeet, a senior director at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. 'They need to think about the purpose of their organization and their mission, and whether or not using a charter service that also serves ICE is consistent with their mission.' GlobalX and ICE didn't respond to emailed questions. Only 10 of 20 universities responded to requests for comment from about flights their teams took on GlobalX in recent months. The schools willing to speak about the matter said they were unaware that the planes they were on were also used to deport people. Memphis, for one, said in a statement: 'The University of Memphis uses multiple sources to charter athletic flights and have no knowledge of their customer base.' Many schools and coaches declined to address the issue at all; several feared potential retaliation given the Trump administration's targeting of some universities. Advertisement The first GlobalX revenue flight took off in August 2021. A slogan on the airline's website promised: 'You can't beat the eXperience.' The company soon became a major player in the sports charter business as its fleet expanded to more than a dozen. Past clients include professional basketball and football teams, a national soccer team, a major cricket tournament and an array of college sports teams. 'We do fly some of the biggest stars in professional sports, in soccer and some of the top – I think 10 of the top 20 college basketball teams for this season,' Ryan Goepel, the company's president and chief financial officer, said during an earnings call in March. GlobalX provided four dedicated aircraft for the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments this year as part of a contract worth at least $5 million, continuing a years-long relationship with the NCAA. March Madness travel is organized through the NCAA's charter program. Third-party brokers usually arrange travel for college teams during the regular season. In response to questions from about GlobalX, the NCAA issued a statement that didn't address them: 'The NCAA contracts only with safe and regulated charter plane vendors that maintain specified certifications, high ratings on reliable scales and meet insurance standards. The approval process for vendors is rigorous. We are not aware of any instances of sub-standard service on any charter flights during this championship season.' Advertisement A promotional video for sports charters on the GlobalX website earlier this year featured gourmet snacks, a grinning flight crew and spacious seats, complete with pillows, blankets and Fiji bottled water. A company brochure described its charter flights as 'the ultimate in flexibility, convenience, and luxury' and 'your ticket to wherever you want, whenever you want.' 'They were great flights, they are all excited about playing and having fun,' a second former GlobalX pilot said of the sports charters. 'That was one part of GlobalX's business model. The other part was the deportations.' Tom Cartwright, an immigration advocate who tracks ICE flights, first noted ICE's use of GlobalX in late 2021. GlobalX announced a five-year contract in August 2024 worth $65 million per year as a subcontractor to CSI Aviation for the flights. Cartwright estimates that from March through May of this year, GlobalX operated 64 percent of total ICE Air flights and 62 percent of deportation flights. Most adult passengers are required to be 'fully restrained' with 'handcuffs, waist chains, and leg irons,' according to the ICE Air Operations handbook. Carry-on items like books aren't allowed. Detainees can't wear belts, hats or shoelaces. Advertisement 'They're in conditions that you would see in a POW camp,' said the first former GlobalX pilot. An Airbus A320 with the tail number N291GX joined the GlobalX fleet last year, and its usage in recent months illustrates the disparate worlds the airline straddles. That plane carried San Diego State, Maryland, Kentucky and Auburn during the NCAA Tournament. In the two months preceding March Madness, N291GX flew dozens of times with flight numbers and destinations that match ICE Air routes. The plane traveled from Alexandria, La., to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, then onto Comayagua, Honduras. The Honduran foreign minister tweeted a photo of the aircraft. ICE later announced that 177 detained migrants from Venezuela had been flown from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras, where a Venezuelan plane picked them up. Another trip deported 157 migrants from El Paso, Texas, to Tapachula, Mexico. Local media reported that passengers had been 'handcuffed and shackled from the waist to the feet and hands.' Advertisement The plane flew from El Paso to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, using a flight number associated with ICE Air. The airport is a regular destination for deportation flights. The next day, March 17, the same plane carried the San Diego State men's basketball team to Dayton, Ohio, and on March 19, it flew the Maryland men to Seattle. The plane traveled to San Salvador, El Salvador on another trip using a flight number associated with ICE Air, then, a week later, on April 2, ferried the Auburn men's basketball team to San Antonio International Airport for the Final Four, where a mariachi group and dancers in bright dresses greeted them in a hangar. Another GlobalX plane – tail number N278GX – landed in San Salvador on Jan. 29, according to flight records and local media reports. More than 80 deportees were aboard. A reporter for El Diario de Hoy photographed the red wrists of one of the passengers and wrote they 'show signs of having been handcuffed for hours.' Two days later, the Kansas State men's basketball team flew from Manhattan, Kan., to Des Moines, Iowa, aboard the same plane in advance of a game against Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. (In a statement, Kansas State said it has been 'pleased' with GlobalX's 'aircraft and service.') Advertisement Also on Jan. 29, a different GlobalX plane with the tail number N837VA ferried 40 deportees to San Pedro Sula. 'They brought me in chains from last night until we arrived here. We're not criminals,' one of the passengers, Dagoberto Portillo, told local media. 'I don't understand the treatment of migrants.' Three days later, the Nebraska men's basketball team traveled aboard the same plane from Lincoln, Neb., to Eugene, Ore. The university said in a statement that the school wasn't 'involved in how that plane was received or procured.' Another GlobalX plane with the tail number N276GX landed at Eduardo Gomes International Airport in Manaus, Brazil, on Jan. 24 with 88 Brazilian deportees. Someone activated the aircraft's emergency exit slides. Photos and videos recorded a chaotic scene where shackled passengers stood on a wing and others roamed the tarmac. Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs derided 'the use of handcuffs and chains' and 'undignified treatment' on the flight. Advertisement 'The most difficult moment was when the air conditioning broke down in the air, people started to feel sick, some fainted and children were crying,' Kaleb Barbosa, one of the passengers, told the Brazilian media outlet G1. 'The turbines were stopping during the flight; it was desperate, like something out of a movie.' The same plane carried the men's basketball teams from Arkansas and Houston in the previous two months, amid a stream of deportation trips. Those didn't stop. Neither did the sports flights. On May 13, the plane transported the Miami track and field team to the Atlantic Coast Conference outdoor championships in Winston-Salem, N.C. Miami's men's and women's basketball teams and baseball team also have flown GlobalX this year. The university didn't respond to a request for comment. A higher-profile Miami team is featured on GlobalX's Instagram account. The airline shuttled Messi and the rest of Inter Miami CF to preseason matches in Peru and Honduras this year in addition to a match in Kansas City. Inter Miami also didn't respond to a request for comment. Advertisement When Inter Miami arrived at Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport in San Pedro Sula on Feb. 8, fire trucks shot arcs of water over the plane with the tail number N281GX. Photographers snapped pictures of players, including Messi, walking down the passenger stairs. Contrast that with a flight that same plane made into San Pedro Sula on Dec. 4. Deportees, some of them with children, were photographed as they walked the tarmac. Behind them was the plane they traveled on, 'GlobalX' written in giant blue letters across its fuselage. 'On the one hand, you have the low-end flights for people, which are basically shackled in the sky,' said Angelina Godoy, director of the University of Washington's Center for Human Rights and author of a 2022 study about ICE Air, 'and then you have the other end, the very high-end flights, with these corporate logos and everything on the plane and the athletes in there looking great … and it's the same damn (plane).' This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Advertisement Inter Miami CF, MLS, College Football, Men's College Basketball, Soccer, Sports Business, Women's College Basketball, FIFA Club World Cup, A1: Must-Read Stories, Graphics 2025 The Athletic Media Company
