Texas Tech University Athletics
Red Raiders move to No. 19 in AP Top 25
December 15, 2025 | Men's Basketball
LUBBOCK – Texas Tech comes in at No. 19 in the Associated Press Men's Basketball Top 25 Poll this week – extending a program record to 16 straight appearances in the national poll. The Red Raiders (7-3) will host Northern Colorado on Tuesday before traveling to New York to play No. 3 Duke (10-0) on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
Along with the AP Top 25, the Red Raiders are at No. 19 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, No. 23 in the Kenpom ratings and No. 25 in the NCAA NET coming into the week. Texas Tech was at No. 10 in the AP Top 25 Preseason Poll for its highest preseason ranking in program history after finishing last season at No. 8 following a trip to the Elite Eight. The team was at No. 16 last week before a loss to Arkansas last Saturday in Dallas. The Razorbacks (8-2) moved up to No. 14 this week after being No. 17 last week.
Arizona (9-0) remains the top-ranked team in the nation and is followed by Michigan (10-0), Duke (10-0), Iowa State (11-0) and UConn (10-1) in the top 5. The Big 12 is also represented by No. 8 Houston (10-1), No. 10 BYU (9-1) and No. 17 Kansas (8-3). The Red Raiders are currently 0-3 against AP Top 25 teams this season with losses to Illinois, Purdue and Arkansas. The Boilermakers (10-1) were at No. 1 when they topped Tech in the Bahamas and are currently at No. 6.
The Red Raiders are on a 44-game non-conference home winning streak, including a 5-0 home record this season, coming into their matchup against Northern Colorado at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at United Supermarkets Arena. Tech took a 93-86 loss against No. 17 Arkansas last Saturday in Dallas after earning an 82-58 win over LSU in Fort Worth the week before. Northern Colorado (9-1) is on a six-game winning streak after an 89-87 overtime win over South Dakota on December 6 in its last game. Texas Tech owns a 5-0 all-time record in the series with an 89-64 win over the Bears last season in Lubbock being the most recent matchup. Tech head coach Grant McCasland is 21-0 in non-conference home games leading the Red Raiders and is 35-5 at home since taking over the program. The Red Raiders have not lost a non-conference home game since a 76-74 overtime loss to No. 15 Kentucky on January 25, 2020.
JT Toppin and Christian Anderson have both recorded double-doubles in the past two games and have led the Red Raiders throughout the season. Toppin is currently second in the Big 12 and sixth nationally by averaging 21.8 points per game and leads the Big 12 and is fourth nationally with 11.4 rebounds per game. His 30 points and 11 rebounds gave him his fifth double-double of the season and the 36th of his career. Anderson leads the Big 12 and is fourth nationally with 7.6 assists per game while ranking sixth in the Big 12 with 19.8 points per game. He went for 26 points and 11 assists against Arkansas for his third double-double of the season along with matching his career-high in assist for the third time. LeJuan Watts is third on the team in scoring with 11.6 points per game and second with 5.9 rebounds per game. He provided eight points, five assists and four rebounds in the loss to Arkansas. Donovan Atwell gives Tech four players averaging in double-figure scoring at 11.4 points per game. He had six points against Arkansas in a game where he surpassed the 1,000-point career scoring milestone. Tyeree Bryan and Jaylen Petty also scored eight points each against Arkansas and are both now averaging just over six points per game.
The Red Raiders currently lead the Big 12 by making 10.9 3-pointers per game after going 13-for-31 (41.9%) against Arkansas. It was the second straight game with 13 made 3-pointers for the team and the seventh game this season with double-digit 3s made. The team set a new program record by making 17 in the season opener against Lindenwood and is now 109-for-294 (37.1%) on 3-pointers this season. Anderson and Atwell lead the team with both players making 33 through 10 games played this season. Tech is scoring 81.9 points per game with a high of 98 points coming in the first two games of the season against Lindenwood and Sam Houston while opponents are scoring 72.3 points per game against them. The 93 points from Arkansas was the most an opponent has scored against the Red Raiders this season. As a team, the Red Raiders are second in the Big 12 with 14.6 offensive rebounds per game – led by Toppin who leads the Big 12 and is second nationally with 5.2 offensive rebounds per game following seven against Arkansas. Tech produced 21 assists on 35 makes against Arkansas for its fourth game this season with 20-or-more assists with a season-best 22 assists coming in a win over Wake Forest. The Red Raiders are averaging 16.5 assists per game and have a 1.56 assist-to-turnover ratio.
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