By Garin Turner
The fifth seed Texas Tech Red Raiders will try and avoid an upset at the hands of the 12 seed Akron Zips. The game is on March 20, at 11:40 AM EST on truTV. The winner of this game will play the winner of Alabama/Hofstra in the second round.
Texas Tech Red Raiders Road to the tournament
The Red Raiders went 22-10 and finished 3rd in the Big 12. After starting the season 2-0, Texas Tech lost to the Fighting Illini 81-77. They would go on to win two more games before losing to then #1 Purdue 86-56. The biggest win of the year for Texas Tech came on December 20, when they beat Duke 82-81. The win moved the Red Raiders to 9-3. Currently, the Red Raiders have lost three in a row.
Akron’s Road to the tournament
Akron made the tournament after going 29-5, good for 2nd in the MAC, while winning the MAC Tournament over Toledo 79-76. Akron is riding a 10-game winning streak heading into the game against Texas Tech. Before the 10-game streak, Akron went on a nine-game winning streak. Akron lost its only game against a ranked opponent in Purdue back on Nov 16, a 97-79 blowout. They followed that up with back-to-back wins.
Keys to the game
Can Texas Tech get back on track or are they on upset alert coming into the tourney not playing their best basketball. Akron averages 88 points a game to Texas Techs 80. Will Akron be able to slow down JT Toppin? Toppin leads the Red Raiders in points, rebounds, blocks, and steals.
Texas Tech Season Leaders
Points: JT Toppin; 21.8
Rebounds: JT Toppin; 10.8
Assists: Christian Anderson; 7.6
Akron Season Leaders
Scoring: Tavari Johnson; 20.1
Rebounds: Amani Lyles; 8.0
Assists: Tavari Johnson; 5.0
Verdict
This has a chance to be the first upset of the tournament. I think Akron will pull this off in a low scoring game. Akron 48-Texas Tech 47.
(Image Credit: Akron Athletics)
