It would have been understandable if you wrote off Texas Tech basketball coach Grant McCasland's team last night against Arkansas. After all, the Red Raiders trailed 61-45 with under 10 minutes to go in the game.

However, McCasland apparently never gave up hope. The second-year Tech coach kept encouraging his team even with the game teetering out of reach.

“Coach McCasland just kept saying we are going to win this game no matter what, and we stuck with our belief to go and make plays,” Texas Tech guard Christian Anderson said following the game [h/t Bracketeer's Rocco Miller].

After a Billy Richmond III layup, the Razorbacks led by 15. With 9:48 remaining in regulation, Darrion Williams came into the game and immediately kickstarted the comeback with a layup. Williams made another basket at the 7:08 mark to cut the deficit to 7 points, just before Arkansas made a shot, its first in three-and-a-half minutes.

That field goal seemed to kickstart what appeared to be a game-clinching run, as the Razorbacks pulled back out to a 13-point lead with under five minutes to play. But Tech still believed it could win.

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Following the possession in which Arkansas expanded its lead, Anderson made a 3-pointer, which began a thrilling comeback down the stretch. The Red Raiders scored 10 unanswered in a span of less than two-and-a-half minutes to pull within 3 points before Karter Knox made a triple to push the Razorbacks' lead back to 6.

Fortunately for Red Raider Nation, Anderson responded with another 3-pointer, and with 9.7 seconds left, Williams rattled in a contested triple to knot the game up at 72 apiece. D.J. Wagner's last-second attempt at a game-winner was off the mark, necessitating overtime.

In the extra period, the two teams traded the lead back and forth — there were nearly half of a dozen lead changes in five minutes — but Williams, again, played the part of hero.

After Wagner made an acrobatic layup with 34.8 seconds left, Williams went into the post and hit a tough jump hook against stringent defense to give Texas Tech an 83-81 lead with 7.3 seconds remaining. On the other end, the Razorback's game-tying shot bounced off of the rim, giving Tech one of the most improbable comeback victories in recent March Madness history.

With the win, the Red Raiders have punched their proverbial ticket to the Elite Eight, where they will play the West region's No. 1 seed Florida, which beat Maryland 87-71 in the Sweet Sixteen and knocked out two-time defending national champions UConn in the Round of 32. This is the first time Texas Tech has reached the Elite Eight since 2019 when Chris Beard led the team to the national title game.