You’d be surprised that the Texas Tech Red Raiders didn’t sniff an AP-Top 25 poll ranking until week 12 while having only four losses on the season.
In fact, looking at the Red Raider’s 2024-2025 portfolio, you could argue that they have performed better than several of the top ten teams in the country. Tech currently sits in the 13 spot of this week’s top 25 poll but they could make a case for a higher ranking.
Their four losses are tied with or less than six of the twelve teams in front of them, and the Red Raider’s haven’t lost a game by more than five points this season. They can play anybody tough.
But Texas Tech’s talent was undiscovered until recently, mainly due to scheduling. The Red Raiders didn’t play anybody worth two cents until nine games into their season, No. 22 Texas A&M, but they lost that game and had dropped another to St. Joseph’s a couple weeks earlier.
So although they were ranked as the 29th best team in the nation per ESPN preseason rankings, they remained in the shadows until the past couple weeks.
The world saw Texas Tech’s potential in their most recent loss to No. 3 Iowa State. The Red Raiders took the Cyclones to overtime but lost by one. Despite the loss, Tech looked strong and they took it in stride. Since then the Red Raiders have won seven straight defeating worthy opponents like No. 6 Houston, No. 20 Arizona, Baylor and Cincinnati.
There was a moment, early in Tech’s win streak where Head Coach Grant McCasland got vulnerable with the media about his players, specifically Chance McMillian. It was after Texas Tech’s win versus Arizona and since that game, the Red Raiders have been playing with a newfound aggressiveness.
“And he’s not playing perfect(Chance McMillian). He’s making a lot of mistakes at times but he’s not shying away from it. He’s really inspirational for me because I hope that I’m like Chance. Not just as a coach but in life. That’s the reason our team is winning because of him. He’s playing 36 minutes a game, he doesn’t come off the floor. He never deflects, he never blames his teammates, he’s told me on several occasions, “Coach, coach me as hard as you can and I’ll make sure you don’t lose the locker-room.”
McCasland was emotional throughout the postgame press conference and spoke about several players in similar fashion. His authenticity and trust with his players has visibly inspired them since that press conference.
Key Texas Tech Players
JT Toppin; Sophomore, Forward
Toppin is Texas Tech’s superstar talent. The 6’9″ first year Raider from Dallas, Texas has been dominant in scoring and rebounding for his team this year. The transfer from UNM is averaging 15 points a game and eight boards for the Raiders and has had some clutch moments this season.
Toppin’s best game was in a one point loss to St Joseph’s early in the season where he had 22 points and 18 boards but he’s had six other games with ten plus rebounds as well.
Chance McMillian; Senior, Guard
Chance McMillian is the captain of the Texas Tech Red Raiders and they’re leading scorer as well. He puts up just over 15 a game, which is his college career best, on 53% shooting.
As pointed out in McGasland’s emotional speech earlier, McMillian plays downhill and relentlessly. He averages 33.4 minutes a game which is top 150 in the nation.
Darrion Williams and Elijah Hawkins have also stepped up this year. Williams is Tech’s third option on offense, he averages 14.7 a game and 5.5 rebounds. Hawkins on the other hand, is the passing threat for Texas Tech. He averages 6 assists a game and 1.6 steals.
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