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Texas Tech basketball rises slightly in rankings for second-straight week

By Matthew Conner

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 28: Kyler Edwards #0, Terrence Shannon Jr. #1, Davide Moretti #25 and TJ Holyfield #22 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders walk back on the court after a timeout in their game against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the 2019 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on November 28, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Hawkeyes defeated the Red Raiders 72-61. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 28: Kyler Edwards #0, Terrence Shannon Jr. #1, Davide Moretti #25 and TJ Holyfield #22 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders walk back on the court after a timeout in their game against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the 2019 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on November 28, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Hawkeyes defeated the Red Raiders 72-61. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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The Texas Tech basketball team continued its slow climb back up the national rankings this week after Sunday’s win over CSUB in Lubbock.

This weekend, the Texas Tech basketball team will enter Big 12 play as one of only four ranked teams in the league.  It will also be the lowest-ranked of those teams.

After a week that saw Chris Beard and his team play just once and look somewhat average while doing so in Sunday’s 73-58 victory over Cal State Bakersfield, the Red Raiders moved up just one spot to No. 22 in the A.P. poll to match where they sit in the Coaches Poll, in which they did not move at all.

This is the second-straight week that Tech has moved up slightly in the polls after re-entering the rankings on December 16th after taking down No. 1 Louisville.  Of course, the Red Raiders began the season at No. 13 in the A.P. and No. 12 in the Coaches but fell out of the polls on December 2nd following consecutive losses at the Las Vegas Invitational over Thanksgiving weekend.

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While the Red Raiders have risen only incrementally since returning to the top 25, Big 12 rival West Virginia was this week’s biggest jumper moving up six spots in both sets of rankings after taking down No. 2 Ohio State on Sunday in Cleveland.   Sitting at No. 16 in the A.P. and No. 17 in the Coaches, Bob Huggins’ team soared past the Red Raiders thanks to their impressive win to move to 11-1 on the year.

The other two Big 12 teams in the polls can be found in the top 10.  At 10-2, Kansas sits at No. 3 in both polls receiving one first-place vote in each as well.  In the A.P. Poll, Baylor is up to No. 6 and in the Coaches Poll, they are right behind Kansas at No. 4.  The Bears sit 9-1 on the year.

Atop both polls is Gonzaga for the second-straight week while Duke is at No. 2.  Just below Kansas in the A.P. Poll is Oregon and Ohio State while Baylor and the Buckeyes round out the top 5 in the Coaches Poll.

What these new rankings tell us is that the Red Raiders have a tough task ahead of them to begin Big 12 play.  Tech hosts the Bears in the second game of league play and then travels to Morgantown for round three of the 18-round brawl that is the round-robin Big 12 regular season.

No other team in the conference even received votes this week.  That was true last week as well.

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Thus, it appears that the four ranked teams in the Big 12 have established an upper-echelon this year, at least as it stands right now, and Tech is in that mix.  The good news is that Beard and his team will have some great opportunities to pick up some key wins right off the bat in Big 12 play.  Beating the Bears and Mountaineers would be significant steps forward for this team in its quest to be crowned kings of the conference for the second-straight year.

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