DES MOINES, Iowa – No. 15 Colgate (26-9, 17-1 PL) fell to Big-12 Champion No. 2 Texas (27-8, 12-6 Big 12), 81-61, in the First Round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on Thursday night at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
All-Patriot League senior forwards Keegan Records and Ryan Moffatt led Colgate with 13 points apiece, while Records pulled down a team-high six boards. Senior guard Tucker Richardson, the Patriot League Player and Defensive Player of the Year, finished with nine points, five boards, two assists and two steals.
Records connected on 6-of-9 from the field to finish the season with a Patriot League single-season record for field-goal percentage (67.5). Richardson’s 198 assists are the fifth-best single-season total in League history. He finished his decorated career among the top 20 in four Patriot League career categories, including points (18th, 1,740), rebounds (15th, 771), assists (3rd, 626) and steals (9th, 221). Lynch-Daniels concludes his career as the Patriot League’s career 3-point field-goal percentage leader (51.1), while Moffatt is third all-time (44.1).
The Patriot League Champion Raiders, who played their fourth NCAA Tournament game in five seasons under Head Coach Matt Langel and the sixth in program history, concluded the season with a program record 26 victories and a Patriot League record 17 League wins.
TOURNAMENT BRACKET
NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND (MIDWEST REGION)
NO. 2 TEXAS LONGHORNS (27-8, 12-6 Big 12) 81, NO. 15 COLGATE RAIDERS (26-9, 17-1 PL) 61
Wells Fargo Arena/Des Moines, Iowa 7:25 p.m. (TBS/Westwood One)
BOX SCORE |
PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
DES MOINES, Iowa – Senior forwards Keegan Records, and Ryan Moffatt led Colgate with 13 points apiece, but the Raiders could not hang with No. 2 Texas in an 81-61 loss in the First Round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
*Records grabbed a team-high six boards and connected on 6-of-9 from the floor to finish the season with a 67.5 field-goal percentage, the best single-season mark in Patriot League history.
*Colgate senior guard Tucker Richardson, the Patriot League Player and Defensive Player of the Year, finished with nine points, five boards, two assists and two steals.
*The Raiders had seven players finish with five or more points, including junior center Jeff Woodward (8), senior guard Oliver Lynch-Daniels (7), freshman guard Braeden Smith (6) and junior guard Chandler Baker (5).
*Colgate shot 43 percent (25-of-58) from the floor and outscored the Longhorns 38-32 in the paint in the loss. The Raiders connected on 8-of-9 from the charity stripe.
*The Longhorns, who limited their three opponents to 26.3 percent from 3-point range in the Big 12 Tournament, held Colgate, the nation’s top 3-point shooting team, to just 3-of-15 from beyond the arc.
*Texas graduate student guard Sir’Jabari Rice, the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year, scored a game-high 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting from long distance.
HOW IT HAPPENED
*Colgate opened an early lead, as Richardson scored five of the Raiders' first 10 points to take a 10-9 lead by the 13:35 mark in the first half.
*The Longhorns took over, using a 14-1 run midway through the first half to open a 35-18 lead with under six minutes in the first frame.
*Colgate responded, ending the half on a 14-6 run while connecting on five of their last six shots from the floor to close the gap to single digits at 41-32.
*The Raiders' offense was balanced through the first half with five players with five or more points, led Woodward and Moffatt with six apiece.
*After Colgate closed to within seven points twice during the first two minutes of the second half, the Longhorns extended the margin to double digits with a 5-0 run.
*Texas opened a 17-point lead with 12 minutes to play in the game, but Colgate answered, scoring 12 of the following 16 points to bring the deficit to nine points at 68-59 with 6:01 left.
*The Longhorns' defense tightened, and Records' layup with 1:21 remaining in the game was Colgate's last field goal.
RECAPS:
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The Patriot League is in its fourth decade of academic and athletic achievement, continually demonstrating that student-athletes can excel at both academics and athletics without sacrificing high standards. The Patriot League’s athletic success is achieved while its member institutions remain committed to its founding principle of admitting and graduating student-athletes that are academically representative of their class. Participation in athletics at Patriot League institutions is viewed as an important component of a well-rounded education.