On the Hardwood
The Lady Raiders face Washington State in Pullman tonight with tip-off at 8:00 p.m. and broadcast on ESPN+. The Cougars are 1-8 on the year so I don’t know how much of a contest this will be, but it is a game on the road.
CBS Sports’ Isaac Trotter grades the best frontcourts through the first month and Texas Tech’s frontcourt receives a B thus far:
JT Toppin is still pillaging. The Texas Tech All-American stacks 20-and-10 lines in his sleep and occasionally erupts for a 35-and-11 performance against Illinois. Toppin is inevitable, and Texas Tech’s vision for this front line is starting to take shape. Elite shot-blocker Luke Bamgboye is finally healthy and beginning to coalesce into the lineup. Bootyball menace LeJuan Watts is integrating into the mix better by the day.
Grant McCasland knew that building a bigger, better front line was essential if Texas Tech wanted to win a title. This group isn’t there yet, but by March, it can go toe-to-toe with anybody. First-month frontcourt grade: B
CBS Sports’ Kyle Boone has his 2026 NBA Mock Draft and has JT Toppin picked #23 by the Miami Heat.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello power ranks the top 25 and Texas Tech is at No. 19:
We’re about to find out how good Texas Tech really is. The Red Raiders have lost their two most difficult games of the campaign: by 30 points to Purdue in the Bahamas and by four to Illinois on the road. Their best wins came against Wake Forest and LSU, and the jury is still out on both. But Grant McCasland’s team faces Arkansas in Dallas on Saturday then heads to New York to face Duke next week. Christian Anderson’s All-American push continues at pace; he’s coming off a 27-point, 4-rebound, 8-assist performance against LSU on Sunday in which he went 5-for-9 from 3. He’s up to 19.1 points and 7.0 assists (fifth in the country) and is making 43.1% of his 3-point shots.
On the Gridiron
Texas Tech had 7 players receive AP All-Big 12 honors with an additional 2 more making 2nd team and Jacob Rodriguez winning Defensive Player of the Year and David Bailey winning First-year Transfer of the Year.
First Team Offense
RB: Cameron Dickey
PK: Stone Harrington
First Team Defense
DE: David Bailey (unanimous)
DT: Lee Hunter
DT: A.J. Holmes Jr.
LB: Jacob Rodriguez (unanimous)
CB: Brice Pollock
Second Team Offense
OG: Davion Carter
Second Team Defense
DE: Romello Height
CBS Sports’ Zachary Pereles on the Heisman Trust revealing that Jacob Rodriguez finished 5th in the overall Heisman voting and the top 4 were invited to New York for the ceremony.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper, Jr. with his 2026 Big Board and a handful of Red Raiders make the list including David Bailey at the No. 6 overall player, Terrence Carter, Jr. as the No. 6 fullback/h-back, Lee Hunter as the No. 5 defensive tackle, Jacob Rodriguez as the No. 9 off-ball linebacker, and David Bailey as the No. 1 outside linebacker and Romello Height just missing the top 10.
DCTF’s Greg Powers on Texas Tech signee Kaegan Ash passing Kenneth Hall for the Texas High School Football single-season rushing record of 4,045 rushing yards.
Texas Tech kicker Upton Bellenfant, announced that he is entering the transfer portal. Bellenfant started the season sharing time with Stone Harrington and eventually was not seeing any time after Harrington established himself.