Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Louisiana Tech outlasts Oklahoma in overtime (VIDEO)

Michael White

Louisiana Tech head coach Michael White gestures in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Oklahoma State in Oklahoma City, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013. Oklahoma State won 70-55. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

AP

Louisiana Tech entered the season as one of the nation’s trendiest mid-majors, but thanks to an opening night loss at St. Mary’s and disappointing results against Louisiana-Lafayette and Oklahoma State, a lot of people forgot about the Bulldogs.

Not anymore.

Mike White’s club picked up a 102-98 win at Oklahoma on Monday night. They erased a 14-point first half deficit on the road, bouncing back after Cameron Clark hit a ridiculous, buzzer-beating three to force the extra frame.

Winning on the road isn’t easy. Beating Oklahoma after being down 14 points on the road isn’t easy. Bouncing back from a momentum-killing three at the end of regulation isn’t easy.

No matter how you slice, this was a very impressive win for Louisiana Tech.

If you’ve never seen the Bulldogs play, they are reminiscent of VCU. They like to press, they like to trap, they like uptempo basketball. But like VCU, when they struggle, it’s on the offensive end of the floor. They are not a particularly good shooting team.

On Monday night, however, Louisiana Tech got 31 points from Alex Hamilton and 22 points from Raheem Appleby. Cordarius Johnson chipped in with 17 points, hitting five of LTU’s 10 three-pointers. When they are hitting their threes and when they are putting up more than 100 points, this Louisiana Tech team is going to be a tough out.

This win probably won’t be enough to get them an at-large bid is the struggle at all in Conference USA play. But it is a sign that their length and athleticism in that press can cause anyone they would draw in a potential tournament trip a lot of issues.

(h/t Nordy for the video)