Texas Tech reportedly reaches out to high-scoring transfer forward with Texas ties

Portal rumors come fast this time of year and the Texas Tech basketball program is in the middle of its fair share. One of the latest involves UNC Wilmington small forward Trazarien White.

The 6-foot-6 native of Mansfield, Texas made public his intention to enter the portal on Thursday and, according to Joe Tipton of On3Sports, he has already heard from a number of schools including Texas Tech, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Baylor, West Virginia, and SMU.

It is easy to see why Tech and many other programs would target White. He averaged 19.8 points per game this past season to go along with 6.8 rebounds. His scoring average was 38th-best in the nation and Texas Tech needs to add offense after losing three of last season's top-five scorers.

White is an excellent shooter. He hit at a 49.3% rate overall and he was a 39% shooter from 3-point range.

He's also a ball-dominant player, something Tech needs with the departure of Pop Isaacs and Joe Toussaint. His usage rate (the percentage of plays in which a player shoots the ball, hands out an assist, or turns the ball over) this past season was a whopping 33.9%.

To put that in perspective, that's over 4% higher than Isaacs' usage rate for Texas Tech this past season. Of course, that high number was likely due to the fact that White was his team's only legitimate offensive option. Were he to play for Texas Tech (or another major-conference team) he would be surrounded by more talent and would thus be more likely to share the load offensively.

In 2023-24, White scored in double figures in all 30 games he appeared in. He also had some big games against teams from major conferences.

Against Kentucky, White had 27 points and 10 rebounds in December as his team pulled the upset at Rupp Arena. That came a few games before he hung 28 points on Arkansas in a losing effort.

If Tech were able to add White to the mix, it would be interesting to see how Grant McCasland would make the rotation fit. Tech has already added a similar player in terms of position in Kevin Overton, a transfer from Drake who averaged 11.3 points per game last season.

Overton and White are comparable players in terms of where they would fit on the floor so if both come to Lubbock next season, they would have to coexist and given how prominent each was for his team last year, that might be a delicate balance.

However, adding talent is the name of the game during this portal frenzy and Tech has to try to bring in players of White's caliber. So keep an eye on this name in the portal because he would be a huge get for the Texas Tech basketball program.