Texas Tech basketball: The top 25 Red Raiders in the Big 12 era

No. 11: Rayford Young

Talk about a player who had awful timing.  Pampa’s Rayford Young was one of the best point guards in Texas Tech history but because he arrived on campus at the end of the James Dicky era, his career is often overshadowed.

Remember that Young missed out on Tech’s memorable Sweet 16 run in 1996 by one semester as he joined the program that fall for the first season of Big 12 play.  His team would go 19-9 that year as the point guard would contribute 7.4 points per game.

But by the time Young hit his stride as a sophomore, the program would be in the midst of a free-fall.  Over the next three seasons, Tech would win no more than 13 games in a season and by the time that Young was a senior in 1999-00, he would find himself playing on a team that would finish 11th in the Big 12 standings.

Still, Young did all he could during his time as a Red Raider.  Averaging 14.1 points and 3.8 assists per game for his career, he ranks 16th in program history in scoring and 4th in assists.

The 5-foot-11 Red Raider was a do-it-all point guard.  His ability to take defenders off the dribble was lethal.  So too was his 3-point shot, as he hit over 39% of his 3-point attempts in three of his four seasons in Lubbock.

Most remember his signature game against Kansas in 1999 in which he scored 41 points to lift Tech to its first-ever victory over the Jayhawks.  That day, he was 18-18 at the free-throw line and 5-7 from 3-point range.

But unfortunately for Young, he just didn’t have the type of talent around him that he needed in order to compete at the highest levels.  During most of his career, the program was under NCAA investigation (thus hamstringing any efforts to remain competitive) and in 1999, Tech hoops would be put on probation.  But through it all though, Rayford Young was able to play some excellent basketball.  And had he played during a different era in program history, he might rank much higher on this list.