Texas Tech's defense the last 7 days:
* held Iowa State 20 points below its season average
* held Kansas to its season-low point total
* held Baylor 20 points below its season average.
The entire Texas Tech basketball team is outside United Supermarkets Arena giving out Raising Canes to the students camping out for tomorrow's Texas game.
Plainview was the unwitting host to Texas' coup of Chris Beard, and Chris Del Conte has the AUDACITY to bad mouth my city afterwards. Not on my watch! MY COLUMN
Darrion Williams just broke the record for most makes without a miss in Texas Tech history (if he doesn't shoot again.
He's 12 for 12 from the field and has 30 points.
Red Raiders are now officially guaranteed to get a first-round bye in the Big 12 tournament. They're tied four fourth in the standings right now, ahead of Kansas because of the head-to-head win.
"That wasn't going to happen again."
"We not having that this year."
"The city of Lubbock deserved more."
Returning players clued in their new teammates on Texas Tech's disastrous campaign a year ago. Together, they made a pact to turn things around.
"No doubt in my mind."
Devan Cambridge doesn't want to start over. He's looking forward to putting on a Red Raider uniform again. For now, he's turned his focus to being the best teammate, best version of himself he can be.
โCoach pulled us aside after he scored the school record and said, โDo you guys want him to keep going?โ and it was a unanimous yes because we love J.J. We just want him to succeed. All of us were on board.โ
On his radio show, prompted by
@GeoffHaxton
talking about how fast things have gone since he was hired last spring, Grant McCasland said, "I pray to God that's the last introductory press conference I ever get to do."
Grant McCasland thinks tomorrow's
@TexasTechFB
player dunk contest at halftime should be a fun one.
Also said Marcus Ramon-Edwards should be the favorite, calling him the 1A of the attempts he's seen.
With one week to go, the top 6 Big 12 tournament seeds as of today:
1. Houston (13-3)
2. Iowa State (12-4)
3. Baylor (10-6)
4. Texas Tech (9-7)
5. BYU (9-7)
6. Kansas (9-7)
Tiebreaker: Kansas lost to both Texas Tech & BYU and Tech beat BYU.
Texas Tech didn't just suddenly become bad and lose three in a row. It is the same team at 16-6 and it was at 16-3, as it would've been at 19-3.
Opinions of the team shouldn't change because some close ones have gone the other way.
Let me explain why.
Feb. 13, 2023: Texas Tech gets its 14th win of the season and 3rd Big 12 win in the same game.
Jan. 13, 2024: Texas Tech gets its 14th win of the season and 3rd Big 12 win in the same game.
Grant McCasland on his radio show says he's not looking at what number of wins Texas Tech would need for an NCAA Tournament bid.
"Let's not look at minimums. Let's look at maximums."
This entire sequence was a thing of beauty from Texas Tech.
7 passes in 16 seconds with at least three open 3s given up to get Joe's wide-open 3. Had UNI's defense scrambling so much that Pop's wide open on the other wing too.
Based on Texas Tech's recent success against the Longhorns, don't be surprised if Grant McCasland's first trip to Austin as the Red Raiders' leading man is also his last.
General consensus between ESPN and CBS Sports is Texas Tech going to Phoenix to play Maryland in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.
It's no Duke's Mayo Bowl but whateves.
"The moment you make it about anything other than your team, you're losing, and I love to win."
Texas Tech and Grant McCasland are putting their pasts away together. They're living in the moment and moving forward in every sense.
STORY:
New Tech receiver Josh Kelly on how the demise of the Pac-12 and Washington State's limbo status contributed to him hitting the transfer portal to become a Red Raider.
FINAL: No. 20 Texas Tech 85, No. 11 Oklahoma 84.
Red Raiders will stay in sole possession of first place in the Big 12 standings, pick up their second win over a ranked team on the road and got a career-high 27 from Chance McMillian.
Pop Isaacs is a second-team all-Big 12 selection from the AP, which is voted on my conference beat writers.
Grant McCasland received two votes for coach of the year, which went to Houston's Kelvin Sampson.
Texas Tech played bad basketball for 33 minutes and got blown out.
Then the Red Raiders played 7 minutes of great basketball and had a chance to win at Iowa State.
That was the difference on Saturday.
MORE
It may not be the bowl Texas Tech fans hoped for, but the Red Raiders are playing December football for the third year in a row, the first time in over a decade.
That should be considered a successful season.
Postgame column:
His roommate Chance McMillian has seen it up close. Teammates like Robert Jennings have noticed it, too.
Darrion Williams has been locked in as of late, taking his game to another level at the perfect time for Texas Tech.
Officially that was Texas Tech's fourth announced sellout of Big 12 play.
No team since at least the 2010-11 season had five in a season, and Texas is in town for perhaps the last time next week.
"The togetherness was at a high level tonight for sure."
Pop Isaacs and Joe Toussaint kn what it took for Texas Tech to come back from a 10-point deficit.
๐จNEWS: Starting Jan. 3, I will be joining
@lubbockonline
as the new sports reporter focusing on features. I'm very excited to get to work with the
@RaiderSports
,
@LoneStarVarsity
, and
@amarilloglobe
crews to tell even more stories in the South Plains and Panhandle.
Grant McCasland wanted to see how mature his Texas Tech team could be while Baylor made a comeback and three starters were in foul trouble.
The Red Raiders didn't disappoint, coming away with what Chance McMillian called a "special win" against Baylor.
Grant McCasland said Drew Steffe has been away from the team for "family reasons" and is welcomed back whenever he's ready.
Steffe, who is on track for a redshirt year this year, was not at tonight's game.
NEWS: Illinois' Niccolo Moretti will enter the transfer portal, a source told ESPN. The 6'2 Italian point guard and NBA Global Academy graduate has three years of eligibility remaining. Will have a good market due to his pace, feel and pick and roll creativity.
When I talked to Davide last summer, he said Niccolo "wanted to come to Tech very, very, very bad" but he was making his decision during the coaching transition from Adams to McCasland.
John Roberson holds the single-season assist record at Texas Tech with 212.
Elijah Hawkins had 247 last season at Minnesota.
Roberson was also the last Tech players to average 5 assists or more per game. Hawkins has been at 5.6 or above all 3 years in college.
We're here at Texas Tech's selection show viewing party, where the first order of business as fans trickle in is watching former Red Raider Terrence Shannon Jr.'s Illinois team try to finish off a Big Ten tournament title.