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Texas Tech Basketball: Ranking 2019-20 non-conference opponents

By Tristan Freeman

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: A view of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shorts prior to the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game against the Virginia Cavaliers at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: A view of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shorts prior to the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game against the Virginia Cavaliers at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 08: Texas Tech Red Raiders fans cheer prior to the 2019 NCAA men’s Final Four National Championship game against the Virginia Cavaliers at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 08: Texas Tech Red Raiders fans cheer prior to the 2019 NCAA men’s Final Four National Championship game against the Virginia Cavaliers at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

Texas Tech Basketball has a much more difficult non-conference schedule than in prior years. Who are their toughest upcoming opponents?

Until the last couple of years, Texas Tech Basketball was known for having some of the weaker non-conference schedules. There are several reasons for this, including the program not being a top choice for high-profile tournaments and challenges between conferences. They also had a preference playing in-state teams from the Southland and SWAC as well, so the Red Raiders also liked to have a lot of winnable games on the early slate.

That was the case a year ago, with Chris Beard and the team winning 12 of their 13 non-conference games. The best wins came against USC, Memphis and Nebraska, with the lone loss coming in a hard-fought affair in New York to the Duke Blue Devils. It set them up for a historic rest of the season, including dethroning the Kansas Jayhawks for the Big 12 regular-season title and eventually making it to the national title game for the first time.

The elevation and profile of Texas Tech Basketball has paid dividends when it comes to this upcoming non-conference schedule. They’ll be participating in the 2019 Las Vegas Continental Tire Invitational, facing off against San Diego State before either taking in Iowa or Creighton. They also take on the top program in the Big 12/SEC Challenge and also has a primetime battle versus a preseason top-10 team in the Jimmy V Classic.

For this piece, I’ll be ranking all 12 “guaranteed” opponents for the Red Raiders. Iowa and Creighton have been excluded, although I will say that both would’ve been No. 4 on this list. Here’s a look at how the rest of the looming foes rank.

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