Busting Brackets
Fansided

Texas Tech Basketball: 2020-21 season preview for Red Raiders

By Tristan Freeman

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - MARCH 07: The Texas Tech Red Raiders stand for the National Anthem before the college basketball game against the Kansas Jayhawks on March 07, 2020 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - MARCH 07: The Texas Tech Red Raiders stand for the National Anthem before the college basketball game against the Kansas Jayhawks on March 07, 2020 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 5
Next
Texas Tech Basketball
Texas Tech Basketball. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

Overall schedule for Texas Tech in 2020-21

Due to the 27 game maximum set by the NCAA for this season, the Red Raiders have nine non-conference opponents for this season. Six of them (Sam Houston State, Incarnate Word, Abilene Christian, Northwestern State, Texas A&M -Corpus Christi, and Grambling State) are what you would consider “buy” games; all being at home with little chance of an upset.

The other three, however, are much more competitive. The first comes on November 29th, with a neutral-site battle with the Houston Cougars. They’re considered the favorite to win the American Athletic Conference and are ranked in the preseason polls. This is a big resume-builder for whichever program that wins.

Another key matchup to watch is against St. John’s in the Big 12/Big East Battle on December 3rd. It’s at home and the Red Storm are viewed as a bottom-tier team in the Big East this season. So the Red Raiders should win but be careful with JUCO transfers Vince Cole and Isaih Moore, who if as good as advertised, will give Tech a handful.

This program has had memorable matchups in the Big 12/SEC Challenge and may have another one this season with LSU. The lone true road game in the non-conference, the Tigers are also ranked in the preseason and returns stars Trendon Watford and Ja’vonte Smart. This is an even matchup on paper and right in the middle of Big 12 play will give the Red Raiders another primetime battle.

As for conference play, Texas Tech starts off with a mega battle with Kansas at home in December. It’s certainly not a “must-win” but if this team wants to be a genuine contender for the regular-season title, they’ll need to hold serve in this one.

The opening part of the Big 12 schedule is favorable to the Red Raiders and if they can get past the Jayhawks to start off, can see themselves right at the top of the standings. The back-end is brutal though, with games against West Virginia, Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma State, and Texas to round things out. They’ll need to go 4-2 in the final stretch to have any hope of competiting for a conference title and need the favorites to lose unexpectedly somewhere along the way.

Home/Texas Tech Red Raiders