At the time of publication, the No. 10 ranked Texas Tech men’s basketball team is in Utah, looking to bounce back from a loss to the TCU Horned Frogs in their final home game.
Tech closes the regular season against the BYU Cougars, aiming to regain momentum before next week’s Big 12 Conference tournament.
Head coach Grant McCasland said physicality and toughness — qualities he expects from his team — were missing in the loss to TCU.
“The fight level to our team, and the way we fight and compete and scrap, that's us and that's the way we’re gonna have to do it," McCasland said. "It's not gonna be clean, it’s not gonna be easy, it’s gonna be done together.”
“The better we get at this, the better our team will be," he added. "And the more we will have a chance to play deep in March.”
Meanwhile, the Big 12 women’s basketball tournament began earlier this week, but the No. 21-ranked Texas Tech Lady Raiders saw their run end early.
After Tech opened the year with a program-record 19 straight wins and earned its first national ranking since 2012, head coach Krista Gerlich was named Big 12 Coach of the Year.
But Thursday night in the second round of the conference tournament, the Lady Raiders were upset by Kansas State, their fifth straight loss to the Wildcats.
Tech led most of the game and entered the fourth quarter with a double-digit lead. But the Lady Raiders were held scoreless for the final seven minutes, while Kansas State mounted a 21-0 run to come from behind and win 58–51.
Kansas State entered the matchup fresh off a first-round win over the Cincinnati Bearcats, while Texas Tech had nearly a week off after earning a first-round bye.
Gerlich said managing that long break is something the team will likely face again.
“Clearly we had sights on winning a championship and being able to advance in this tournament and we really thought we had that opportunity,” Gerlich said. “So I know it’s gonna take us a little while to get over that, but we have to, right?”
“We have to gather together and decide as a team that we really want to continue to play together,” she added. “And that’s gonna have to happen in the NCAA Tournament now, which is fantastic, but at the same time, now you know it’s one and done.”
For the men’s team, a strong finish to the regular season and a solid showing in the Big 12 tournament could improve their seeding for the NCAA Tournament and position them for a deeper run in March.
And despite the early conference tournament exit, the Lady Raiders’ historic start likely keeps them in position for a high seed in the tournament.
Selection Sunday is March 15, when both teams will learn their seeding — and who they’ll face as they represent West Texas in the heart of March Madness.