Texas Tech basketball tumbles in latest top 25 poll

The Texas Tech basketball team remains ranked in this week's top 25 but the Red Raiders did take a tumble in the latest poll. That was to be expected after a 0-2 week that saw Grant McCasland's team fall to TCU and Cincinnati.

Texas Tech checks in at No. 23 in the latest poll

This week, the Red Raiders are at No. 23 in the A.P. Poll. That's an eight-spot free fall from where they were perched last week.

Tech is one of six Big 12 teams in this week's poll. That's a decrease of two teams after TCU and Oklahoma fell out of the rankings.

Kansas is the highest-ranked team from the conference at No. 4. They are behind No. 1 UCONN, No. 2 Purdue, and No. 3 North Carolina.

Houston checks in at No. 4 while Baylor is at No. 13 and Iowa State is at No. 14. The other ranked Big 12 team is BYU at No. 21.

This week, the Red Raiders will have to fight to stay ranked. Facing Baylor on Tuesday in Waco will be a difficult task given that Tech has won only once in its last eight road games in the series.

Then, a feisty UCF team comes to Lubbock on Saturday. While beating the Knights, who are 13-8 overall and 4-5 in conference play won't skyrocket the Red Raiders back up the standings, it would be an important win given how much value each home game holds in the Big 12 where road games are so difficult to win.

Tech then has a home game against Kansas and a road game against Iowa State next week meaning that the path through the Big 12 won't get any easier for the foreseeable future. In other words, staying ranked isn't a given for the Red Raiders.

Of course, being ranked in February isn't as important as where you are ranked in March, and more importantly, April. Still, just as Red Raider fans became accustomed to seeing the Red Raiders with a number next to their name, the Big 12 started to chew up another good team. Now, it will be time to see if Texas Tech can pull out of its slight tailspin and start to climb back up the rankings.