DALLAS _ American Airlines Center morphed into Lubbock's United Supermarkets Arena on Saturday night.
Red was the color of choice for the majority of those eager onlookers watching No. 3 seed Texas Tech "host" No. 6 seed Florida in the second round of the NCAA Tournament's South Region. Tech fans had to have filled 90-plus percent of the place.
Red Raiders head football coach Kliff Kingsbury was even behind the bench drawing cheers and googly-eyes alike.
They'll have a chance to infiltrate Boston next.
Texas Tech, which fended off a feisty No. 11 seed Stephen F. Austin in the opening round on Thursday to win its first Tournament game since 2004-05, rode the energy from its "home" crowd en route to a 69-66 victory.
Florida had two chances to tie the game within the last 10 seconds, but just couldn't get a shot to fall.
The Red Raiders will face either No. 2 seed Purdue or No. 10 seed Butler on March 22 in Boston. The game will be televised on either TBS or TNT.
Keenan Evans led the way again for Tech with 22 points. Zhaire Smith, a freshman, added 18 points, and nine rebounds, while freshman Jarrett Culver tallied 11 points and nine rebounds for the Red Raiders.
It was an alley-oop from Evans to Smith with 29.5 seconds left that sealed the deal for Chris Beard's club, putting Tech up 69-64.
Neither team could get much separation in the first half as there were five ties and seven lead changes over that span. A tip-in at the buzzer by Rice transfer Egor Koulechov gave the Gators a 33-32 lead at the half.
Tech came out blistering hot in the second, though, and used a 6-0 run at the start of the half to give them a little separation. But the Gators fought right back with a mini run of their own to retake the lead at 43-40.
Tech's apparent saving grace came when Florida point guard, and best player, Chris Chiozza, picked up his fourth foul with 13 minutes left that sent him to the bench with UF up 45-43. By the time he came back in at the 7:53 mark, the Red Raiders were on top 58-50.
A Koulechov layup tied the game with 2:55 left one possession before Evans gave Tech the lead again with a 3-pointer to make it 67-64.
