NCAA Basketball: Duke, Memphis, Michigan State rise in latest top 25 power rankings
By Joey Loose
23. Texas Tech (12-2)
Reinventing themselves yet again, the Red Raiders began a new era under Grant McCasland and have played very solid basketball in his first season. They didn’t exactly enter the season as favorites to make noise in the Big 12 and suffered a pair of tough losses against Villanova and Butler back in November. However, the Red Raiders are playing inspired basketball in recent weeks and got a really nice win as conference play began.
Texas Tech closed out nonconference play on Monday with an 85-57 win over North Alabama. There was little drama during another fantastic offensive performance, led by Pop Isaacs and his 21-point effort. Saturday was by far the highlight of this season for the Red Raiders, who traveled to Austin and got a dynamic 78-67 road win against Texas, likely knocking the Longhorns out of the national polls. Isaacs had 21 points again while both Joe Toussaint and Warren Washington added 15 in the hard-earned win.
The Red Raiders’ offense has been efficient in recent weeks, especially during this seven-game winning streak. This team might still not be capable of pulling off weekly upsets in this very tough Big 12, but you can’t deny the excitement for handling the Longhorns like this. Double-digit road wins in this league are currency and it’ll matter by the end of the year. Home games against Oklahoma State and Kansas State await next week.