Arkansas made threes it usually bricks. No. 3 seed Texas Tech trailed by 16 midway through the second half. Then, all of a sudden and of all things, a game materialized out of nowhere. Nothing made sense Thursday night at Chase Center in San Francisco. Logic did not exist.
Enter Darrion Williams to provide sense and responsibility. A 6-foot-6 junior forward loaded with composure and heroics, he was the man of the moment for Texas Tech. Two moments, actually.
His three-pointer with 9.7 seconds remaining in regulation gave the Red Raiders a 72-72 tie and an extra five minutes of overtime life no one could have seen coming midway through the second half.
His penetration to loft a three-foot bank over his right shoulder with 7.3 seconds remaining provided the winning margin as third-seeded Texas Tech beat – stunned, gutted – 10th-seeded Arkansas 85-83 to advance to the West Regional final on Saturday against Florida.
Plus the other Williams move.
Calm.
He stood on the court, in the middle of the madness he helped create, with part of the crowd going wild and another part mourning, with his Red Raiders celebrating and Arkansas in disbelief, seeming in complete control. Nothing else seemed to be on the night Texas Tech advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2019, the year it made the Final Four. Williams exhibited and maintained control.
“Stay aggressive and stop settling for threes,” he said of his mindset in a game when he made just eight of 26 shots and two of 10 behind the arc. “Obviously they weren’t going in, but I was shooting open ones. They’ll fall. Just trying to get to the rim. (Arkansas is) long and lengthy but not very built, so coach said keep going through their chest, and like he said, I’ll make them when it matters.”
Arkansas, a below average team shooting threes, built its double-digit lead by making seven of its first 14 attempts. A team shooting 32.4 percent from behind the arc made 50 percent in the first half. It was from out of nowhere and reflective of the Razorbacks, who started 0-5 in SEC play in the first season under coach John Calipari to reaching the Sweet Sixteen, the fourth different school Cal had taken that far.
The first time Williams stepped into the moment came after Texas Tech had collectively responded to climb within 67-56 with 4:50 remaining, then 69-63 with 2:30 left. The deficit was three when the All-Big 12 guard, a transfer from Nevada before his sophomore season, capped a 16-3 Red Raider surge with the jumper from the right side that forced overtime.
“In the huddle, Coach said we’re going to find a way to win this no matter how much we’re down,” said 6-foot-2 freshman guard Christian Anderson, who made a trio of three-pointers in the last 4:21 of regulation. “I think it was 16 with 10 minutes left or something. As a team we had that look, we’re not losing this game no matter what, no matter if it’s defensive, offensive rebounds, we’ve got to get defensive rebounds, steals. We had to find a way to make it happen. And at the end we did, so that was it.”
That end. Williams had the ball on the right perimeter as the final seconds of overtime drained from the clock. Isolated against Arkansas’ 6-foot-6 freshman forward Karter Knox, Williams dribbled into the middle of the lane, then spun toward the baseline. The Razorbacks’ Jonas Aidoo, a 6-foot-11 senior, came help but too late. Williams had already started the motion on what would become the winning shot.
Arkansas’ desperation shot on the final possession went long. Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland threw both arms in the air. Cameras caught Calipari, his counterpart, with a look of trying to figure out what just happened to his 16-point lead, and his season. Just like everyone else.
“First of all, I told them how proud I was of them and there’s nothing they could do to disappoint me,” Calipari said. “Yeah, there were plays I wish they had done different or made, but these kids gave everything, even in this game they gave everything they had to try to win the game.”
