Before the NCAA Tournament bracket was announced, we highlighted teams in each round we felt would be bad matchups for Florida Basketball. In a potential Sweet 16 matchup, we highlighted Texas Tech as a juxtaposition of styles that could cause some problems for the Gators.
But after staging an epic comeback against Arkansas, it's also clear that the Red Raiders have weaknesses and the following are three major weaknesses the Gators should be able to exploit.
Florida Basketball: Size Matters
Texas Tech is led by their star JT Toppin. Listed at 6'9", he averages 18.1 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game. They also have 6'11" Federiko Federiko (not a typo) who come off the bench.
But of the other five players they used against Arkansas, no one else is listed over 6'6", and the only other player on their roster with any size is Eemeli Yalaho, and he hasn't seen the court since February 1 due to injury, though he was considered a game-time decision against Arkansas.
It all adds up to Texas Tech having similar rebounding metrics to Maryland had coming into Thursday, and we saw how Florida was able to dominate the glass against the Terrapins.
Minimal Pressure
Florida was their own worst enemy in the first half against Maryland, but Maryland also came into the game as a team known for creating turnovers.
Texas Tech, meanwhile, does not come into the Elite Eight with the same profile. The Red Raiders are 210th in the country in steals per game and 195th in turnovers per game.
So, combined with their potential inability to rebound, as long as Florida can protect the ball and just get shots up, there is a pathway to be fine.
Drawing Contact
The calling card for the Red Raiders is three-point shooting, and one reason to be worried is if they get hot from deep, we have seen teams turn into Steph Curry for 10 minutes to sink Florida.
But what they don't do well is draw contact and create foul trouble for their opponents.
On average, they draw just 16 fouls per game. That is 262nd in the country.