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Texas Tech basketball: The all-time James Dickey era team

By Matthew Conner

14 Mar 1996: Texas Tech head coach James Dickey directs practice with his Red Raiders as they prepare to face Northern Illinois in the first round of the NCAA East Regional at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia. Mandatory Credit: Doug Pensinger/
14 Mar 1996: Texas Tech head coach James Dickey directs practice with his Red Raiders as they prepare to face Northern Illinois in the first round of the NCAA East Regional at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia. Mandatory Credit: Doug Pensinger/ /
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Tony Battie (FRONT) of the Boston Celtics battles for a rebound with Todd MacCulloch of the New Jersey Nets  (Photo credit DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images)
Tony Battie (FRONT) of the Boston Celtics battles for a rebound with Todd MacCulloch of the New Jersey Nets  (Photo credit DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images) /

Four of the five starters come from the 1996 Sweet 16 team

C Tony Battie

SF Jason Sasser

SG Cory Carr

PF Will Flemons

PG Rayford Young

To understand just how good Dickey’s 1995-96 team was, consider that three of the five starters on his all-time team were part of that squad, which went undefeated in Southwest Conference play and swept the regular season and conference tournament in the final year of the league’s existence.

Dickey always said that the best recruiting job he ever did was to convince Tony Battie to grow five inches after he arrived on campus in 1994.  That’s why the Dallas native became arguably the biggest steal in program history.

Standing 6-foot-11 after he was finished growing, he left Texas Tech as the program’s all-time leader in blocks with 162.  In addition, he averaged 10.2 points and 8.3 rebounds for his career.  After putting together modest seasons in his first two years, he exploded for 18.8 points and 11.8 rebounds per game in 1995-96 as a junior.  Following that season, he left for the NBA where he was Tech’s highest-ever draft pick, No. 5 overall by the Denver Nuggets.

But while Battie was Dickey’s most physically dominant player, his teammate, Jason Sasser, was Dickey’s most electric.  The 6-foot-7 forward averaged 17.7 points per game from 1992-93 to 1995-96 and topped the 20-point per game mark in both his sophomore and junior seasons.

Sasser was the heart and soul of the 1995-96 team as well as it’s leading scorer at 19.5 points per game.  He was as intense as any player to ever wear the Double-T and he was known for having a lethal first step that allowed him to get to the basket at any time and against anyone.  He was also a streaky outside shooter who could take over games with his jumper when he found his rhythm.

The second-leading scorer on the 95-96 team, Cory Carr, actually came off of the bench for Dickey that year but he would start on this team.  Just a sophomore that season, the 6-foot-3 shooting guard averaged 16.5 points from 1994-95 to 1997-98.  In each of his final two seasons in Lubbock, he put up over 20 ppg thanks in large part to his ability to hit from outside (he averaged two threes per game in an era when that aspect of the game was not nearly as prevalent as it is today).

Considering that he averaged 16 points per game from 1989-90 to 1992-93, 6-foot-7 Will Flemons should be more of a household name for Texas Tech fans than he is.  The Paducah, Texas native is the 11th-leading scorer in Red Raider history with 1,604 points.  What’s more, in the two years he played for Dickey, he was absolutely dominant by averaging 19.9 points and 9.9 rebounds per game while averaging a 20 and 10 double-double as a senior.   A two-time SWC Player of the Year, he’s a member of the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame.

The other starter on Dickey’s all-time team that didn’t play on that 1995-96 team would be point guard Rayford Young, who arrived the next season.  The 5-foot-11 guard from Pampa put up 15.1 points and 3.8 assists for his career and his legendary 41-point performance to take down Kansas in 1999 remains one of the best games in Texas Tech history.

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