Wreck'Em Red
Fansided

Texas Tech basketball: The all-time Red Raider team from West Texas

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - FEBRUARY 20: Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot "Raider Red" fires up the crowd before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Iowa State Cyclones on February 20, 2017 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Iowa State defeated Texas Tech 82-80 in overtime.(Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
LUBBOCK, TX - FEBRUARY 20: Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot "Raider Red" fires up the crowd before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Iowa State Cyclones on February 20, 2017 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Iowa State defeated Texas Tech 82-80 in overtime.(Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /
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General view of United Supermarkets Arena before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Kansas Jayhawks. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
General view of United Supermarkets Arena before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Kansas Jayhawks. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /

Point guard: Rayford Young

Rayford Young remains one of the most popular players in Texas Tech basketball history and the Pampa native would be the starting point guard for the all-time West Texas team.  Unfortunatley, he played during the wrong half of the James Dickey era, 1996-2000 meaning that his heroics often went for naught due to the lack of talent around him.

With 1,525 career points, the 5-foot-11 point guard ranks 16th on the program’s all-time scoring list.  What’s more, he was a second-team All-Big 12 honoree each of his final two seasons, the two years that he led Tech in scoring.

As a senior, he put up 17.8 points, 4.2 assists, and 4.0 rebounds as he was asked to carry way more of the load than he should have.  And carrying the load is exactly’s exactly what he did in his signature game.

To best understand what Rayford young was as a player, you have to only look at his 41-point effort against Kansas in Lubbock back in 1999.  Facing the No. 24 Jayhawks, Young went off for 35 points in the second half, all but three in the final nine minutes, to help Tech steal a victory on national TV.

Fortunately for Young, on the all-time West Texas Tech, he would not have to don the Super Man cape every night as he did in his final two years in Lubbock when Tech struggled to a 25-33 record combined.  But should he be asked to from time to time, he would have been more than capable of lifting his West Texas teammates team onto his undersized shoulders as well.

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