Senior Day Was Special for Texas Tech Basketball
Texas Tech basketball was in a dark place in 2013 when Tubby Smith took over the program, but he brought in a very special class that has turned things around in Lubbock, Texas.
Keenan Evans, Zach Smith, Justin Gray and Norense Odiase were all apart of that inaugural class and on Saturday three of those guys played their last game in the United Supermarkets Arena. Odiase will return in 2019 due to a medical redshirt but the others were honored along with Niem Stevenson who is in his second year at Texas Tech and Tommy Hamilton who is a grad transfer in his first year as a Red Raider.
The 79-75 win over TCU on Saturday was the perfect cap to a great regular season and the perfect send off for this special Senior class who was honored before the game in a ceremony featuring the families of all of the seniors.
All five seniors started the game in a special moment as it was unsure if injuries would allow Justin Gray, Zach Smith and Keenan Evans to even be on the court.
Keenan Evans, who had a quiet first half, had a Cinderella ending scoring 21 points in the second half while putting the Red Raiders on his back carrying them across the finish line with his bum toe.
Chris Beard, who brought the best out of these Seniors in their last two seasons had some parting words for the class as he promised to get a regular season Big 12 Championship for them one day and he'd cut down the net for them.
Beard also wanted them to know next on the list was trying to win the conference championship that's being held this week in Kansas City.
The Red Raiders play the winner of Iowa State and Texas on Thursday after earning a first round bye in the Tournament. Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament will be CBS this coming Sunday after all of the Conference Tournaments are completed. Texas Tech has their eye on a 3 seed that will see them playing the first 2 rounds in Dallas, Texas.