In Review: Season 99 of Texas Tech Basketball

LUBBOCK, Texas – Season 99 of Texas Tech Basketball saw the team match the sixth most wins in a season for the program and return to the NCAA Tournament in the first year under Grant McCasland.

"We'll continue to improve and do things to improve our program," said McCasland after the team's loss to NC State in the NCAA Tournament. "I just believe honestly we'll compete for a National Championship and I believe it'll be soon."

Went 23-11 to secure the 17th 20-plus win season in program history and finished tied for third in the Big 12 standings with an 11-7 conference record
Advanced to the program's 20th NCAA Tournament.... Was No. 6 seed in the South Region
Grant McCasland became only the third Tech head coach to win 20 or more games in the first season leading the program and the fourth to take his team to the NCAA Tournament in an inaugural season
Three players earned All-Big 12 honors with Darrion Williams being named to the All-Big 12 Third Team and All-Big 12 Newcomer Team; Pop Isaacs earning All-Big 12 Third Team; Joe Toussaint securing All-Big 12 Honorable Mention
Owned a 15-2 home record overall and was 7-2 at home in Big 12 games (including a 79-50 win over No. 6 Kansas and an 80-67 victory over No. 11 Baylor)
Had five official sell-outs (15,098) and averaged 12,926 fans throughout the season which ranked fourth in the Big 12 and 24th nationally in terms of average attendance… The five sell-outs were the second most in the history of the program
An average of 3,349 students supported the team in its nine Big 12 games
A total of 219,743 fans attended games throughout the season which ranked as the 22nd most out of 365 men's Division I basketball programs
Rose as high as No. 15 in the AP Top 25 and USA TODAY Coaches Poll after being unranked to begin the season and throughout non-conference play… Was ranked No. 22 in both polls going into the NCAA Tournament
Tech earned six wins over AP Top 25 teams, including two road victories over ranked opponents with wins at No. 20 Texas in Austin and at No. 11 Oklahoma in Norman
Secured a win over a Top-10 opponent for the 10th straight season
Established a new program record by shooting 78.0 percent at the free-throw line as a team (previous record was 75.6% in 2004-05)… Led the Big 12 and was 13th nationally by shooting 518-for-664 at the line for the season… Finished the season with 16 games of 80% or better, including going 22-for-24 (91.7%) against Houston in the Big 12 Championship semifinals and 12-for-14 (85.7%) against NC State in the NCAA Tournament First Round
Averaged 74.4 points per game in Big 12 play for the third best ppg. in program history... Finished with a program-best 1,340 points in Big 12 games
Darrion Williams had nine double-doubles which was the second most in the Big 12 and the most for the program since Tony Battie established the program record with 20 in the 1996-97 season… Williams finished third in the Big 12 by averaging 7.5 rebounds per game and 248 total rebounds
Four players averaged double-figure scoring with Pop Isaacs (15.8 ppg.), Joe Toussaint (12.2 ppg.), Darrion Williams (11.4 ppg.), Chance McMillian (10.8 ppg.)
Darrion Williams established a program record by going 12-for-12 from the field in the win over No. 6 Kansas… Williams finished the game with 30 points after going 4-for-4 on 3-pointers and making two free throws for a perfect game… He was named the Associated Press National Player of the Week for the performance that matched Oklahoma State's Marshall Moses (2010) for the Big 12 record and was only three makes away from the NCAA record held by Louisville's Clifford Rozier who went 15-for-15 in 1983
Team averaged 75.3 points per game which was the most for the program since the 2009-10 season… Averaged 74.4 ppg. in Big 12 games – the most since 2001-02
The season saw three players reach the 1,000-point milestone... Joe Toussaint had 13 points in the home win over Oklahoma State on January 9 to reach the milestone and finished his career with 1,208 career points... Warren Washington reached the milestone with 11 points against Kansas State on January 13 and finished his career with 1,084 career points... Chance McMillian reached the milestone in the postseason when he scored 17 points against BYU in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinal win on March 14 in Kansas City... McMillian goes into his final collegiate season with 1,027 career points (8.3 ppg.)
Pop Isaacs had the highest scoring performance of the season for the Red Raiders after going for 32 points in the home win No. 20 BYU... Isaacs was 6-for-9 on 3-pointers in the game and 11-for-19 overall
Tech finished second in the Big 12 by shooting 35.9 percent on 3-pointers (289-for-804) and was third with 8.5 3-pointers per game
Kerwin Walton shot 47.8% on 3-pointers (65-for-136) which ranks second all-time in program history for percentage behind only Alan Voskuil who went 67-for-134 (50.0%) in the 2007-08 season… Walton fell below the NCAA and Big 12 minimum to officially rank but would have led the Big 12 (LJ Cryer – Houston 38.8%) and just behind national leader Koby Brea of Dayton who shot 49.8% (100-for-201)… Darrion Williams finished the season shooting 44-for-96 (45.8%) on 3-pointers and Chance McMillian was 65-for-168 (38.7%)… Pop Isaacs led Tech with 73 made 3-pointers after going 73-for-249 (29.3%)… His 73 makes were the most for the program since Davide Moretti also had 73 in the 2018-19 season… The program record is 94 by Cory Carr in 1996-97 when he went 94-for-249 (37.8%)
Chance McMillian went 8-for-10 on 3-pointers at Butler for the top 3-point shooting performance of the season… He finished with 24 points and earned his first of two Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors… The eight 3-pointers were the second most in Texas Tech history with Alan Voskuil owning the single-game record by making nine in a game against Kansas in 2009
Joe Toussaint led Tech with 146 total assists for the season which was the most for the program since the 2009-10 season when John Roberson had 190… Toussaint was eighth in the Big 12 with 4.3 assists per game for the Red Raiders who finished the season with 14.7 assists per game as a team... Toussaint had a career-high 12 assists at Butler which was two off the single-game record of 14 from Stan Bonewitz in 1996 against Fresno State
Warren Washington led Tech with 38 blocked shots - averaging 1.5 per game with a season-best four coming against Villanova and North Alabama... Washington finished his career with 150 blocked shots
Tech held four Big 12 opponents below 60 points with its 75-58 win at Oklahoma State, the 60-59 victory over Kansas State, 66-59 home win over UCF, and the 79-50 victory over Kansas... Tech went 18-0 when holding opponents to 70 points or fewer after limiting BYU to 67 in the Big 12 quarterfinals and Baylor to 68 in the regular-season finale
In Big 12 weekly awards, three players earned recognition during the course of the season with Darrion Williams, Chance McMillian and Pop Isaacs… Williams was the named the Big 12 Player of the Week and Big 12 Newcomer of the Week for his performances at Oklahoma State and against Baylor to finish the regular season… McMillian was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week for the second time this season after his 27 points at Oklahoma… He earned the honor for the first time on December 4 after his 24-point performance at Butler where he made eight 3-pointers… Isaacs was named the Big 12 Player of the Week on January 2 for his 28-point performance against Sam Houston
Tech went 17-1 when leading at halftime after taking a 42-23 lead over BYU, a 40-27 margin against Baylor, and a 38-17 advantage over Oklahoma State… The only halftime lead Tech lost was against Cincinnati where it led 37-36 at the break but lost 75-72 in Lubbock
Tech came back to win five games overall, including four in Big 12 games after trailing by double digits… The biggest comeback came after it trailed by as many as 17 points against BYU and was down 48-32 at halftime before storming back for the win… Tech trailed 20-4 to start at WVU and was down six at halftime before winning in Morgantown for the biggest road comeback (16 points)… Tech had an 11-point halftime deficit against Kansas State in a win and a nine-point hole in the second half at Oklahoma to give them three second-half comebacks in Big 12 play where they were down at least nine points… In non-conference play in the Bahamas, Tech trailed by 15 against Northern Iowa before coming back for a win… The 16-point halftime comeback against BYU was the largest for the program since coming back from a 17-point halftime deficit (and as many as 23 points) against Iowa State last season… Tech trailed UNI by as much as 15 in the Bahamas, Kansas State by 12, BYU by 17, 10 against TCU, and 16 at WVU
Tech was 3-0 in one-point decisions with the 82-81 win over TCU, earning an 85-84 win at Oklahoma, and the 60-59 win over K-State on Jan. 13 which was its first one-point win of the season… The Red Raiders went 4-1 in games decided by five points or less with the only loss coming in a 75-72 loss to Cincinnati
McCasland matched Bob Knight for the best 20-game start (16-4) for a Tech head coach and joined Mark Adams (2021-22) and Knight (2001-02) as the only coaches in program history with 20-plus wins in their first seasons… Adams won 27 games in his first season and led Tech to the 2022 NCAA Sweet 16 while Knight won 23 games in his first season… McCasland is the fourth head coach to lead Tech to the NCAA Tournament in first season following Gene Gibson (1962), Knight (2002), Adams (2022)
McCasland was selected by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) as the 2024 John Lotz "Barnabas" Award which honors the basketball coach who best exhibits a commitment to Christ, integrity, encouragement to others and lives a balanced life
There was a seven-win improvement in its overall record from the previous season
Tech has made six of the last eight NCAA Tournaments, including reaching the 2018 Elite 8, 2019 NCAA Championship Final, 2022 NCAA Sweet 16

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Texas Tech University Athletics

In Review: Season 99 of Texas Tech Basketball

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Players Mentioned

Pop Isaacs

Chance McMillian

Joe Toussaint

Kerwin Walton

Warren Washington

Darrion Williams

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