The NCAA tournament is about basketball but also so much more: the fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The 1st/2nd rounds are taking place in 8 cities around the country and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is covering all of the angles so you can look forward to a cascade of coverage in the days ahead. Jon Teitel continues our coverage from San Diego with a recap of Montana State vs. Texas Tech.
I began the big day with a filling pregame meal: chicken sandwich/chips/potato salad/cookie. A guy at my table is from the local area and was telling me some nice Bill Walton high school stories. The whole TNT crew is here: Lisa Byington/Steve Smith/Avery Johnson/Lauren Shehadi.
We got bands, cheerleaders, and mascots, oh my!
Let the madness begin. The Red Raiders got rolling early with a 10-2 lead, forcing Bobcats coach Danny Sprinkle to call a timeout less than 3 minutes into the game. They kept pouring it on after the timeout, opening up a 30-9 lead by making 10 of their 1st 12 FG. JR G Terrence Shannon Jr. was the 1st half star with 15 PTS/3-4 3PM/4 AST as his team led 52-25 at halftime.
Coach Mark Adams must have been thrilled with such a large lead as he studied the stat sheet while shuffling off the court.
SR F Bryson Williams was solid in the 1st half with 8 PTS but used his 6’8”, 240-pound frame to explode in the 2nd half and finish with 20 PTS/8-10 FG in only 18 minutes.
His team made 36-54 FG and set a school record for most PTS in an NCAA tourney game in the 97-62 win.
In the postgame press conference I asked Bryson about breaking the school’s NCAA tourney scoring record (set in 1996 vs. a North Carolina team featuring Antwan Jamison/Vince Carter/Dean Smith!), especially considering that they are known for their defense this year. He said that their offense feeds off of their defense and that the deflections on 1 end of the court help a lot on the other end of the court.
I asked Coach Mark Adams about the importance of having nobody on his team play more than 29 minutes. He said that he talked with his staff on the bench about giving his guys some rest so that they would be fresh for Sunday, and since all of his subs played so well it allowed his starters to come off the court early, which was a big positive.