It is the time of the year when news about the upcoming Texas Tech basketball schedule begins to trickle out. We recently learned that the Red Raiders will face LSU in Fort Worth on December 7, and now, numerous sources are sharing rumors that head coach Grant McCasland will take his team to a loaded event in the Bahamas.
It is being rumored that Texas Tech will join Purdue, Memphis, and Wake Forest in the Baha Mar Hoops Championship in Nassau, Bahamas. That event is set to take place on November 20 and 21, 2025.
While no official announcement from either Texas Tech or the event itself has been made, Purdue head coach Matt Painter recently told Andy Katz on Katz's podcast that Tech will be in the field.
"We’re playing Memphis neutral and, then, either Wake Forest or Texas Tech neutral," Painter said.
This will give the Red Raiders an opportunity to play another pair of quality opponents on a neutral court, something that the program must do in order to improve its non-conference strength of schedule after playing a poor non-Big 12 slate in 2024-25.
Wake Forest, which is reportedly Tech's opening opponent in the Bahamas, went 21-11 overall and 13-6 in the ACC last season. However, because of the perceived weakness of that league, Wake did not make the NCAA Tournament.
Memphis did reach the Big Dance this past March after going 29-5 overall and 16-2. However, as a No. 5 seed, they dropped their first-round game to No. 12 seed Colorado State.
Purdue is expected to be one of the best teams in the nation this season. In fact, they might open the year in the top five of the national polls.
Last season, Purdue went 24-12 overall and reached the Sweet 16, where they lost to Houston. Of course, that run came on the heels of a National Championship Game appearance in 2024.
With Texas Tech struggling to find big-time non-conference opponents willing to play home-and-home series, playing in these neutral-site events is critically important. That's how McCasland and his program can beef up their national profile as they try to earn as high of a seed as possible in the NCAA Tournament.
Last season, Tech played Saint Joseph's and Syracuse in the Legends Classic in Brooklyn, New York. However, neither of those teams proved to be good enough to boost the Red Raiders' tournament resume.
As a result, Tech had one of the worst non-conference resumes in the nation. That didn't hurt McCasland and Co., though, because of the strong Big 12 showing they had.
However, putting all of your eggs into one basket is quite a risky proposition given how difficult the Big 12 is on a yearly basis. Thus, trying to play a better out-of-conference slate is a way to give yourself extra opportunities to pick up Quad-1 and Quad-2 wins to give you a buffer come Selection Sunday.
That appears to be what Tech is going to do in 2025-26 by participating in this strong field in the Bahamas. Hopefully, it is a sign that the Red Raiders are going to play a more competitive non-conference slate in the upcoming season.