Avery Benson Crowdsurfs After Leading Texas Tech to Huge Win
The Texas Tech Basketball Program is continually doing things that they've never done before under Chris Beard. Elite 8s. Final Fours. Big 12 Titles. You name it, they're doing it.
This season hasn't been all sunshine, but coming off a three-game losing streak, the Red Raiders did another thing they've never done before: Beat the number one team in the AP Poll.
The Red Raiders were previously 0-5 in such games before taking down the top-ranked Louisville Cardinals 70-57 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
If you're reading the box score trying to find a player of the game, your eyes might be drawn to the leading scorer Davide Moretti or a guy who filled in the stat sheet like Chris Clarke. But if you really watched the game, it's painfully obvious the player of the game was Avery Benson.
Chris Beard said as much after the game, screaming, "Never underestimate a guy from Arkansas!" in his post-game interview on ESPN before Benson talked to Holly Rowe.
Ex-players were tweeting about his effort:
Coaches, fans and media members were blowing up about Benson so much during the game that at one point, he was a trending topic:
It was the post-game celebration, however, that put Benson's night over the top.
His teammates recognized his contribution far more than the casual fan who saw the two big blocks, three pointer and offensive put backs from the Louisville game. They know the struggle of Benson leaving a scholarship on the table in Little Rock, Arkansas to walk on in Lubbock with Texas Tech, only to have to sit behind the bench during the first tournament run. But now we're here, a few years later, seeing all of Benson's hard work pay off.
And his teammates celebrated that hard work by picking him up on their shoulders:
Also, can we talk about this epic dance move from Coach Beard that immediately morphs into fist pumping haymakers around the locker room?