The Texas Tech Red Raiders student section not only showed out strong at the Final Four, but they got rowdy singing along to ‘Old Town Road.’
With the Texas Tech Red Raiders playing in their first-ever Final Four game, it stood to reason that their fans would show up in a big way to watch the action in Minneapolis as their team took on the Michigan State Spartans. That indeed happened as the Red Raiders student section came out in a big way on Saturday night. And they were excited to be there.
To be sure, the Texas Tech fans in attendance had plenty of reason to be excited for much of the game. While Jarrett Culver and their offense were a bit limited for much of the action, their defense was stifling as they took a two-point lead into halftime. On top of that, they came out of halftime and built a double-digit lead over Tom Izzo’s team.
However, the student section was never more hype than when “Old Town Road”, the viral hit by Lil Nas X came on — the same song the team celebrated in the locker room with after advancing to the Final Four — and the fans sang along with perhaps the most energy they showed all night:
https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/1114718199826845696
Well, most of them were hype. That one guy in the front row took a little bit of time to get into it — but he eventually came around and joined his Red Raider compatriots.
While “Old Town Road” and the performance of Texas Tech gave fans plenty of reason to get hype, they also gave them reason to sweat late in the game. The Red Raiders offense went cold down the stretch in the second half and allowed Michigan State to cut the lead to just a one-possession game.
Maybe it was the music of Lil Nas X that inspired them, or the excited fans in Minneapolis, but the Red Raiders ultimately recovered and took control of the game back in the final three minutes of action.