Texas Tech University Athletics
Red Raiders preview NCAA Tournament First Round
March 19, 2026 | Men's Basketball
TAMPA, Florida – Thursday in Tampa brought No. 5 Texas Tech to Benchmark International Arena for the first time with the team having an open practice and media opportunities. Friday brings on March Madness with the Red Raiders playing No. 12 Akron at 12:40 p.m. (ET) in a NCAA Tournament Midwest Region First Round matchup.
"One thing about being at Texas Tech, there's a belief, and everybody has it," Tech coach Grant McCasland said during his press conference. "We're building to play in March. I love being a part of a university that just loves basketball and will support it in a way that feels like you can play for the whole thing. For us to be in the NCAA Tournament three years in a row, I think the expectation is that we put ourselves in position to keep winning. Our guys come to Texas Tech and are a part of this in the same belief. No matter what difficulty comes our way, you've got to believe that you can win and you can win games in March."
Tech (22-10) is making its third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament under McCasland while the Zips (29-5) are on a 10-game winning streak and won the MAC tournament championship. The Red Raiders advanced to the Elite Eight last season and have now made 22 appearances in the tournament but are looking to snap a three-game losing streak entering Friday's game. Christian Anderson has earned three All-America selections and All-Big 12 First Team and enters the tournament leading the Red Raiders with 18.9 points, 7.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Anderson has established a new Tech single-season record with 236 assists and has made 105 3-pointers – breaking the previous school record and only behind Donovan Atwell who has made 124 this season. Atwell, who is senior making his first NCAA Tournament appearance, is averaging 13.5 points per game and earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention. Jaylen Petty is adding 9.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game and has made 64 3-pointers in his freshman season. As a team, the Red Raiders are fifth in the nation with 11.5 3-pointers per game and by shooting 39.3% from beyond the arc. Tech has made 369 3-pointers, just three away from setting a new program record for the third straight season.
The trio of players and McCasland each spoke to the media during the press conference on Thursday and talked about a season where the team set a program record with four wins over Top 10 opponents and the program's first ever matchup against Akron. Below are selected quotes or click this press conference link to watch the full video.
On playing against Akron in the NCAA Tournament First Round:
Anderson: "They're a great shooting team. Yeah, we've been going over them in practice the past few days. Yeah, we just know we've got to bring our best punch and stick to the scouting report."
Atwell: "Great team, play fast on offense, and they're really explosive. I think we've been preparing pretty well these past couple days on just trying to guard their schemes and plays and just getting ready for that. We have to be ready for everybody's biggest punch. Tomorrow is going to be a battle, so we've got to be ready for it."
Petty: "Every team who gets here kind of deserves praise, you know what I mean? I just feel like through preparing these past couple days and locking in as a team and communicating on what we've got to do, we're going to be prepared."
McCasland: "Watching Akron play, winning 19 of the last 20 games, they're as aggressive offensively, fast in transition, get to the next action, as well as any team we've played. I mean, so much respect for the depth on their roster. A lot of teams will have some guys you've got to key on. I feel like they bring as good of players off the bench as they start. When they make runs, there's so many guys involved in the action. Coach Groce and Akron feel like they have an identity in how they want to play. They have great continuity in how they play and have great expectation. A lot of their roster played in the NCAA Tournament last year, played an Arizona team that we're obviously familiar with. So just a tremendous amount of respect for the way they compete. They're fun to watch. They'll give each other high fives on the possessions during the possession. They've got a connected group, you can tell, and they're playing great basketball."
On Tech's mentality entering the NCAA Tournament:
Petty: "We preach competitiveness and toughness. We all want each other to be better. We're going to be prepared."
Atwell: "We've been saying all season, we learn from our mistakes and learn from our wins as well. We're always getting better, which is going to help make us better for the tournament and to prepare us."
Anderson: "Just playing against the best teams every single night, I think it's going to prepare us well."
McCasland: "It feels unique to have a team that I feel like can improve as much as any team I've had in March. I mean, to be playing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and feel like you can still grow so much more. I'm usually trying to manage just the game. I can tell you -- even our practice yesterday and we'll practice today, we've got to keep getting better. That's the exciting part of this group. People ask me what's your dream for this team? People want to talk about advancing, and I want to get better today in practice and see how much better we can get. We've got great guard play. We've got a great group of guys, and we've continued to play well in some games. But we've got some areas that I think we're not even close to what we could be. It's fun to be a part of a team that's still practicing hard and still getting better."
TEXAS TECH POSTSEASON AWARDS
ANDERSON: AP All-America Third Team; All-Big 12 First Team; Big 12 Most Improved Player; USBWA All-America Third Team; The Sporting News All-American (3rd Team); Field of 68 All-American (3rd Team); Associated Press All-Big 12 First Team; Wooden Award Ballot, NABC Gulf District First Team
ATWELL: All-Big 12 Honorable Mention; All-Big 12 Newcomer Team
TOPPIN: AP All-America First Team; All-Big 12 First Team; NABC All-America Second Team; USBWA All-America Second Team; The Sporting News All-American (2nd Team); Field of 68 All-American (1st Team); Associated Press All-Big 12 First Team; Wooden Award Ballot, NABC Gulf District First Team
McCASLAND: NABC Gulf District Co-Coach of the Year
VIDEO RESOURCES: Define Yourself | TTW EP1 | TTW EP2 | TTW EP3 | TTW EP4 | CBS Home Court
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