Red Raiders selected as South Region’s six seed; Open against NC State in Pittsburgh 8:40P Thursday

Release Provided By Wes Bloomquist Texas Tech Athletics

LUBBOCK, Texas – No. 25 Texas Tech is heading to the program’s 20th NCAA Tournament after earning an at-large bid where it will play North Carolina State on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Red Raiders are the No. 6 seed in the South Region with third-seeded Kentucky and (14) Oakland playing the other matchup that will set up the Saturday game.

The Red Raiders (23-10, 11-7 Big 12) earned the at-large bid after finishing tied for third in the Big 12 standings and advancing to the conference tournament semifinals. The Wolfpack (22-14, 9-11 ACC) won the ACC Tournament by running off wins over Louisville, Syracuse, Duke, Virginia and North Carolina to secure the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. NC State won the conference title with an 84-76 win over UNC on Saturday night with DJ Horne going off for 29 points, DJ Burns scoring 20, and Mohamed Diarra recording a double-double with 14 rebounds and 11 points. The team had lost four in a row to end the regular season before going on its run at the tournament to secure the bid.

Texas Tech and North Carolina State have met three times with the Wolfpack owning a 2-1 advantage in the all-time series. The programs have not met since the 1950s, with Tech making three trips to Raleigh in 1951, 1952, and 1954. Tech won the first-ever matchup, 63-62, on December 13, 1951 before dropping the next two games. This will be the first postseason matchup between the programs.

Tech has an 11-5 record since 2016 in the NCAA Tournament, including reaching the 2018 Elite 8, 2019 National Championship Final, and 2022 Sweet 16.