Wreck'Em Red
Fansided

Texas Tech basketball jumps three spots to No. 15 in this week’s rankings

By Matthew Conner

MIAMI, FL - DECEMBER 01: Deshawn Corprew #3 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders celebrates with teammates during the second half against the Memphis Tigers of the HoopHall Miami Invitational at American Airlines Arena on December 1, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL - DECEMBER 01: Deshawn Corprew #3 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders celebrates with teammates during the second half against the Memphis Tigers of the HoopHall Miami Invitational at American Airlines Arena on December 1, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Texas Tech basketball team rebounded in the polls jumping three spots to No. 15 after going 2-0 last week.

For the first time in five weeks, the Texas Tech basketball team rose in the rankings after checking in at No. 15 in both the Associated Press and Coaches Poll on Monday.  The three-spot jump is the first time the Red Raiders have risen in the national polls since since January 7th when Tech rose to No. 8 after starting Big 12 play 2-0 with wins over West Virginia and Kansas State.

Tech is the second-highest ranked of the four Big 12 teams in this week’s polls.  Kansas is at No. 14 in both polls while Kansas State sits at No. 18 and Iowa State is No. 22 in the A.P. and No. 23 in the Coaches Poll.

Tennessee remains atop both polls with Duke coming in second.  Gonzaga moved up to No. 3 flipping places with Virginia after the Commodores lost to Duke on Saturday.  Meanwhile, Kentucky rounds out the top 5 sitting at 20-3 overall.

More from Wreck'Em Red

It is finally nice to see the Red Raiders’ trajectory reverse course after a stretch that has seen Tech fail to have an undefeated week since the second week of January when the Red Raiders claimed a home victory over Oklahoma and knocked off Texas in Austin.

Last week, Tech finally saw the brutal Big 12 schedule let up just a bit.  After seeing teams in the top half of the conference standings in Kansas State, Kansas, Baylor, TCU and Iowa State in four of the nine games prior to last week, Tech feasted on West Virginia and Oklahoma, two of the bottom three teams in the league race, in the last seven days.

This week, Tech has an opportunity to continue to move up again with a trip to Oklahoma State, which sits at ninth-place in the Big 12 and a home game against Baylor, which has lost its last two games to fall behind the Red Raiders in the standings.  But more importantly, another 2-0 week will set the Red Raiders up to push for a regular season title.

And if Tech can take care of business against the Cowboys and Bears, they will have a full week to prepare for a showdown with Kansas in Lubbock on January 23rd.  Kansas was the only team to win in Lubbock last season and is a perennial measuring stick for any Big 12 team.  And after thumping the Red Raiders 79-63 in Lawrence earlier this month, the Jayhawks will come to Lubbock with a huge target on their back, regardless of the fact that they are no longer the conference frontrunners.

Next. Freshman Khavon Moore's future up in the air. dark

Interestingly, if Tech can stay in the polls for another week (which would seem almost a certainty unless they are blown out in both games this week), they will be ranked for a 13th-consecutive week.  The current 12-week stretch is already the longest in program history and Tech has been ranked for more total weeks this season than in any other season ever.

Home/Texas Tech Basketball