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Texas Tech basketball: Portland State big man has interest in Red Raiders

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - FEBRUARY 16: Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot "Raider Red" fires up the crowd before the game against the Baylor Bears on February 16, 2019 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech defeated Baylor 86-61. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - FEBRUARY 16: Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot "Raider Red" fires up the crowd before the game against the Baylor Bears on February 16, 2019 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech defeated Baylor 86-61. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
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In the game of college basketball, there’s no such thing as too much size in the post.  Therefore, the Texas Tech basketball program appears to be in the market for another post player despite having recently added UTEP transfer, Bryson Williams to the mix.

In fact, on Monday, Portland State big man Amari McCray, who is in the transfer portal, announced that the Red Raiders are among his top 5 suitors.  Also in the mix for his services are Grambling, BYU, Clemson, and Penn State.

The 6-foot-9, 265-pounder suffered a knee injury last season limiting him to just 12 games.  But in those contests, he averaged 10.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game.

Of course, he has a connection with the Texas Tech basketball program in the form of assistant coach Barrett Peery who was his head coach at Portland State.  Now, there’s a chance that the two could reunite in Lubbock.

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But one has to wonder if McCray will be willing to assume a reserve role for his final season of college hoops.  That’s what he would almost certainly be relegated to should he decide to represent the Double T.

Texas Tech already has Williams and fellow post player Marcus Santos-Silva in the mix for 2021-22 and they are likely to assume the lion’s share of the minutes in the paint.  But Still, Tech has been looking to add another piece to play on the low blocks.

Recently, Mark Adams and his staff had been pursuing TCU center Kevin Samuel, who likely would have been a starter for the Red Raiders.  However, the 6-foot-11 rim protector decided to play for Florida Gulf Coast instead in what was a surprise move given his options.

McCray would solidify Tech’s post rotation by giving Adams another big body to throw at other Big 12 teams.  That would be two more than the program had to rely on last season when Santos-Silva was the only post player on the team to average over 10 minutes per game.

Where it appears that McCray would fit seamlessly into Tech’s system is on defense.  That’s because last season he had an adjusted defensive rating (an estimate of how many points a player surrenders per 100 possessions) of 91.4.  Anything below 100 is considered solid and McCray’s rating would have ranked second-best of any player in the regular Red Raider rotation behind Kevin McCullar’s 89.6.

On offense, McCray appears to get most of his offense near the rim.  He shoots 55.6% from the floor and he’s attempted only one 3-pointer in his Division I college career.  That sounds exactly like the type of player that Santos-Silva is and the two could pair together to give Tech a one-two punch down low meaning that Adams could go all game with one big-bodied banger on the floor.

Texas Tech basketball fans have been pining away for another 6-foot-10 or taller rim-protector to be the next Tariq Owens but that type of player is hard to find.  Thus, McCray could be a nice option to help round out the roster, especially given that the transfer portal is rather picked over at this point, especially when it comes to post players.  So keep an eye on this recruiting battle because it could be a nice way for Tech to add another potential contributor via the transfer market.

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