On the Hardwood

Lady Raider basketball released their non-conference schedule last week. Much like the men, I won’t have a ton of comment on this. They’ll open on December 20th, then have a 10-day break before playing on December 30th and at that point the race will be in full swing.

Texas Tech basketball released their conference schedule last week and they won’t start until January 2nd in Cincinnati and will end on March 5th at home hosting BYU. Just to remind you, Texas Tech still have eligibility issues that still have to be resolved and ESPN’s Myron Medcalf summarizes those:

In February, the program lost two-time AP All-American JT Toppin to a torn ACL. Toppin is expected to return to the court this season, though it’s unclear exactly when the 6-foot-9 forward will be available. That means this team’s fleet of fifth-year players are even more vital, even though transfers Cruz Davis (Hofstra) and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (UNLV) both averaged over 20 PPG last season. Fifth-year standout Darrion Williams, the hero who led Texas Tech to the Elite Eight in 2025, wants to return to Lubbock after a year at NC State. Donovan Atwell is also attempting to return for a fifth year after connecting on 46% of his 3-point attempts for the Raiders last season. Jamichael Stillwell had nine double-doubles at UCF and would help Grant McCasland weather the storm until Toppin is ready. All three continue to await legal clearance, however. — Medcalf

On the Gridiron

The AP Top 25 Poll has Texas Tech moving up 2 spots to No. 11 overall and USA Today Coaches Poll has Texas Tech at No. 10. For some reason, Houston gets dropped from the Coaches Poll, despite playing incredibly well on the road in a tough environment. Meanwhile a team like TAMU gets whipped at home by Kentucky and stays in the Top 25.

Red Raider Sports’ Lane Selph with a recap from Friday night:

Lastly, Joey said he was proud how his team stepped up when being down in a game for the second week in a row. “This team, we showed it last week. Whenever we got down and played the last eight minutes, I think as crazy as it sounds, we’re still finding ourselves. So we’re finding guys are going to step up, and then we’re also also getting healthier. You know, Trey White being healthy tonight was huge. Brenden Jordan being back was huge. You know, I thought I thought our young safeties tackled really well, but they fight, man. These guys have a lot of confidence, and it was good to see Will Hammond turn it loose tonight in a critical game with his feet.”

Red Raider Sports’ Mason Turnbow with quotes from the players on Friday night:

Both McGuire and Leftwich said this week that they wanted to push the ball down the field more, as they felt they had not taken enough shots down the field the first two games. They feel like the receivers have been getting open downfield and haven’t gotten enough targets. When you can take shots down the field and complete some of them, it makes the defense at least respect the deep shot, and then that can open up the running game. A lot of people have said a lot of negative things about the offense to this point, and Will said he was proud of the response from his side of the ball.

“It was a big emphasis for us this week, you know, to take shots down the field. And again, Leftwich did a great job. He dialed them up. I was so proud of him. Hammond said, “You know, a lot of people were giving him a lot of crap this week, and it was tough as well. Not gonna lie, but you know what? We’re a group of people that we respond, and we know how to handle adversity, and that’s exactly what we did. And I’m just proud of him and the belief that he has in me and this team and this offense. And it’s just special.”

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams has his post-Houston game Q&A (where fans ask questions and he answers) and we’ll tackle the first one:

Q: What was the reasoning for the first offensive series, especially after Houston had driven the field and scored?

DW: I assume Tech wanted to use the surprise element: One, by putting Thomas Castellanos at quarterback instead of Will Hammond on the Red Raiders’ first offensive play, which was a new twist. Two, by scheming Castellanos to pass rather than run, when they’ve used him mainly as a runner so far.

Tight end Terrance Carter Jr. was his first option, and Joey McGuire said an immediate breakdown in pass protection foiled a potential big play. Castellanos compounded the problem when he tried to throw the ball away and had it picked off.

“We’ve got a wide-open Terrance Carter,” McGuire said. “The play is drawn up to get it to Terrance Carter. All we need is half a second, and we whiff and they’ve got pressure in Tommy’s face right from the get-go. … And then Tommy didn’t get enough on it throwing it out of bounds.”