Texas Tech survived a few final shots at the rim to hold on and beat No. 3 Oklahoma on Wednesday. The Red Raiders were rightfully excited, but they may have been a little too excited a little too early.
Texas Tech celebrated too early against No. 3 Oklahoma, but got away with it
Here is the full final sequence.
At first glance, everything about that might seem perfectly fine. Toddrick Gotcher grabbed the rebound for Texas Tech and dribbled out the clock. Well, most of the clock.
Pretty sure Gotcher took about 6 steps with the ball before the clock ran out, but those refs SPRINTED to beat the court storm.
— Ryan Clark (@LonghornRdTrip) February 18, 2016
I think Gotcher kind of travelled there.
— Ken Pomeroy (@kenpomeroy) February 18, 2016
Let’s break it down, frame-by-frame. Gotcher grabbed the board and took a couple of dribbles up court. He final dribble is below, and happened with exactly 1.0 seconds left on the clock.
He then took his first step two-tenths of a second later.
His second step came three-tenths of a second later at 0.5 seconds.
He’s still alright at that point. Except there is too much time left on the clock. His third step, and the travel came shortly after.
No matter how you break it down, it’s impossible to argue Gotcher didn’t travel. There should have been a whistle and a travel call. That would have given Oklahoma one final desperation heave with just enough time to legally catch and shoot. That is, of course, looking at the play frame-by-frame and not factoring in the human element of the time needed for referees to see and whistle the travel.
Would it have changed the outcome? Barring a miracle no. But, it is a good lesson in not celebrating too early. Just throw the ball as high as you can in the air, THEN run off.
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