Texas Tech University Athletics
No. 10 Red Raiders rise six spots in AP Top 25
March 02, 2026 | Men's Basketball
LUBBOCK – Up six spots and back in the top 10 nationally, Texas Tech is at No. 10 in this week's Associated Press Men's Basketball Top 25 to extend its program record to 26 straight appearances in the AP Top 25. Along with the AP Top 25, the Red Raiders come in at No. 10 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and No. 13 in the NCAA NET and Kenpom ratings. The NCAA Selection Committee slotted the Red Raiders as a four seed (13th overall) on Saturday, Feb. 21 in its preliminary top 16 for the season. Selection Sunday is set for March 15 with the full 68-team bracket to be revealed at 5 p.m. on CBS.Â
Tech, which was No. 10 in the AP Preseason Top 25, is at its highest ranking in the regular season after running off three straight wins – including earning an 82-73 win over then-No. 4 Iowa State last Saturday for its third top 5 victory of the season. The Red Raiders (22-7, 12-4 Big 12) host TCU (19-10, 9-7 Big 12) at 6 p.m. on Tuesday for their home finale at United Supermarkets Arena. Tech is currently 14-1 at home this season and 44-6 on its home court under head coach Grant McCasland.
Duke (27-2) remains the top-ranked team in the nation for the second straight week and is followed by No. 2 Arizona (27-2), No. 3 Michigan (27-2), No. 4 UConn (27-3) and No. 5 Florida (23-6). The Cyclones (24-5) dropped two spots to No. 6 after their loss to the Red Raiders while the Big 12 is also represented by No. 7 Houston (24-5) and No. 14 Kansas (21-8). TCU received two votes in this week's AP Top 25. The Red Raiders handed the Cyclones their first home loss (15-1) of the season and made a statement throughout the nation to rise in this week's rankings. At Iowa State, Donovan Atwell led the Red Raiders with 18 points after going 6-for-10 on 3-pointers while Christian Anderson continued his historic season by providing 14 points and seven assists – extending a streak of 13 straight games scoring in double figures and giving him 19 games this season with seven or more assists. Tech had six double-figure scorers in the game, including Luke Bamgboye matching a season-high with 13 points and Josiah Moseley matching a career-high with 10 points and also grabbing a career-best nine rebounds and having three blocks for the second straight game. Jaylen Petty added 12 points and matched a career-high with nine rebounds while Tyeree Bryan made two 3-pointers and finished with 10 points.
Tech has set a program record with its four wins over a top 10 opponent and three top 5 victories – passing the previous mark from 2006-07 of three top 10 wins. The Red Raiders are now 4-2 against top 10 opponents and 3-1 against top 5 opponents, including winning three straight. Tech has a neutral-court win over then-No. 3 Duke at Madison Square Garden, a home win over then-No. 6 Houston and road victories over then-No. 1 Arizona and then-No. 4 Iowa State. As a program, Tech now has 28 wins over top 10 opponents in the regular season. The team started the season 0-2 against top 10 teams with a loss against then-No. 1 Purdue in the Bahamas and taking a loss at then-No. 7 Houston in the first matchup against the Cougars.
Atwell is now third in the nation with 110 3-pointers this season while Anderson passed the previous Tech single-season record during the game at Iowa State by making two and has 96 made 3-pointers this season. Atwell and Anderson have both broken the previous mark of 94 set by Cory Carr in the 1996-97 season. Anderson continues to lead the Big 12 with 7.7 assists per game, ranking third nationally, and has 215 assists for the season – moving into second in program history and is closing in on Elijah Hawkins who set the single-season record last year with 226 assists. He is now scoring 19.4 points per game, ranking fifth in the Big 12, while Atwell is scoring 13.1 points per game. Lethal from deep, Atwell is third nationally by making 46.2% of his 3-point shots and Anderson is third in the Big 12 and 12th nationally at 43.2%. Both rank in the top 10 nationally in 3-point makes per game with Atwell second in the nation with 3.79 per after his six at Iowa State and Anderson is ninth nationally with 3.43 made 3s per game.
Anderson, who is on the Wooden Award and Naismith National Player of the Year late-season watch list, now has 914 points and 292 assists through 63 career games at Texas Tech. He has eight double-doubles this season after going off last Tuesday with 31 points, a career-high 11 rebounds and providing seven assists in a win over Cincinnati. Anderson has eight games this season in double-figure assists, including a career-high 13 assists earlier this season in a home win over Oklahoma State. He is currently 167-of-409 (40.8%) on 3-pointers in his career. Â
Tech leads the Big 12 and is fifth nationally with 11.5 made 3-pointers per game and is second with a 56.5 effective field goal percentage. Tech has shot 40% or higher from beyond the arc in four straight games and in 16 games this season with a high of 63.0% against Baylor (17-of-27). The 100 points against Kansas State to start the three-game winning streak was the third time overall this season and second time in Big 12 play that Tech has scored over 100 with a season-high 102 against Oklahoma State. Tech ranks fourth in the conference with a 1.50 assist-to-turnover ratio and is sixth an average of 16.1 assists per game. The team averages 82.0 points per game and has limited opponents to 72.2 points throughout the season. The Red Raiders were 14-for-29 (48.3%) on 3-pointers at Iowa State and have now made 10 or more in 23-of-29 games this season, including setting a new program record with 17 in games against Baylor, Oklahoma State and Lindenwood. The Red Raiders established new program records on 3-pointers the past two seasons under McCasland by making 371 last season (37 games) and 289 the year before (34 games). As a team, Tech is 333-for-842 (39.5%) on 3-pointers through 29 games this season which is already the second most made in a season in program history.
The Red Raiders conclude their regular season this weekend with a road game at BYU on Saturday night in Provo, Utah. The Cougars (20-9, 8-8 Big 12) are receiving votes but fell out of the AP Top 25 this week after losses to UCF and West Virginia last week. BUY plays at Cincinnati on Tuesday night in Ohio before hosting Tech on the final night of the regular season.
RED RAIDER RANKING STREAK
Texas Tech was unranked for the majority of the 2024-25 season but would rise to No. 8 in the final rankings after advancing to the Elite Eight. This year's team was ranked No. 10 in the AP Top 25 Preseason Poll for its highest preseason ranking in program history. The program is now on its longest streak with 26 straight appearances in the AP Top 25. The streak:
Unranked - Jan. 20, 2025
No. 22 – Jan. 27, 2025
No. 13 – Feb. 3, 2025
No. 12 – Feb. 10, 2025
No. 9 – Feb. 17, 2025
No. 10 – Feb. 24, 2025
No. 9 – March 3, 2025
No. 9 – March 10, 2025
No. 9 – March 17, 2025
No. 8 – April 8, 2025 (FINAL)
No. 10 – Oct. 13, 2025 (PRESEASON)
No. 11 - Nov. 11, 2025
No. 15 - Nov. 17, 2025
No. 20 – Nov. 24, 2025
No. 19 - Dec. 1, 2025
No. 16 - Dec. 8, 2025
No. 19 - Dec. 15, 2025
No. 15 – Dec. 22, 2025
No. 14 – Jan. 5, 2026
No. 15 – Jan. 12, 2026
No. 12 – Jan. 19, 2026
No. 11 – Jan. 26, 2026
No. 13 – Feb. 2, 2026
No. 16 – Feb. 9, 2026
No. 13 – Feb. 16, 2026
No. 16 – Feb. 23, 2026
No. 10 – March 2, 2026
VIDEO RESOURCES: Define Yourself | TTW EP1 | TTW EP2 | TTW EP3 | TTW EP4 | CBS Home Court
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