Texas Tech's Darrion Williams leaves coach at a loss for words after shocking Arkansas comeback
03/28/2025 11:11 AM
As the Texas Tech Red Raiders spent the majority of the 2nd half of Thursday night’s Sweet Sixteen matchup with the Arkansas Razorbacks chipping away at a double-digit deficit, 2nd-year head coach Grant McCasland continued to preach one defiant message to his team.
“In the huddle, Coach kept saying, ‘We’re going to find a way to win this,'” Texas Tech guard Christian Anderson said after the game, per ESPN News Services. “No matter how much we’re down, I think it was like 16 [points] with 10 minutes left or something. As a team we kind of had that look, like, ‘We’re not losing this game no matter what.'”
In the end, McCasland was able to keep this promise to his team thanks in large part to the contributions of All-Big 12 forward Darrion Williams, who despite an 8-for-26 shooting night made the three biggest shots of the game for the Red Raiders.
The first came at the end of the 1st half, when a three-pointer with just one second left on the clock gave Texas Tech something resembling momentum as they retreated into the halftime locker with a 7 point deficit. The next came at the end of the 2nd half, when another Williams’ triple tied the game and sent the Raiders and the Razorbacks to overtime. And finally, with 7 seconds left in the overtime period, Williams attacked the basket and finished over two Arkansas defenders to give Tech the 85-83 win.
DARRION WILLIAMS SENDS TEXAS TECH TO THE ELITE 8@TexasTechMBB wins a THRILLER in OT over Arkansas #MarchMadnesspic.twitter.com/cQ4IrWIQUC
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 28, 2025
After the game, Grant McCasland lauded his junior forward’s resilience, going as far as calling him the heart of the team.
“The heart of the team is Darrion Williams, and he’s just a resilient guy,” McCasland said. “I mean 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.”
In addition to 20 points and three tremendously clutch buckets, Williams also added 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. He was one of three Texas Tech players — along with Big 12 Player of the Year JT Toppin and Christian Anderson — to score at least 20 points in the game.
Texas Tech will now play the Florida Gators in the Elite Eight on Saturday evening to attempt to punch their ticket to the Final Four for the second time in program history.
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