{"id":107854,"date":"2026-01-01T21:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T21:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/107854\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T21:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T21:56:09","slug":"texas-tech-lands-shockingly-tall-womens-basketball-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/107854\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Tech lands shockingly tall women&#8217;s basketball star"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/category\/cbb\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">college basketball<\/a> season is already nearly halfway done, but one of the Big 12\u2019s elite programs is adding onto its star-studded roster.<\/p>\n<p>The Texas Tech Red Raiders are a perfect 15-0 to start the women\u2019s college season in a competitive conference that also features Arizona State, Iowa State and TCU.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/john-calipari-bashes-absurd-college-basketball-transfer-portal-rules\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">John Calipari bashes absurd college basketball transfer portal rules<\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, the <a href=\"https:\/\/texastech.com\/sports\/2025\/12\/23\/stephanie-okechukwu\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lady Red Raiders<\/a> are making waves to start 2026 after landing one of the biggest women\u2019s prospects in the history of college basketball. Nigerian seven-footer Stephanie Okechukwu is joining Texas Tech mid-season to provide the program with massive height.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">FIRST LOOK at Texas Tech\u2019s newest mid-season addition out of Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>Meet 7\u20190\u201d Stephanie Okechukwu.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, you read that right. SEVEN FEET. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/dF7Ru4VJAn\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/dF7Ru4VJAn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 E J \ud83c\udfc0 (@EJayArrow) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EJayArrow\/status\/2006743548138586301?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 1, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Many around college basketball believe that the newest Texas Tech prospect is the tallest women\u2019s player in college basketball history. Okechukwu has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KOc2jKhHM2Y\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">wingspan of over seven feet and four inches<\/a>, which is astounding given how athletic she is on the court.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>This comes at a time where men\u2019s basketball saw the Florida Gators play Olivier Rioux in several games this season after winning a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/florida-s-tallest-player-didn-t-need-a-ladder-to-cut-down-the-nets-video\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">national championship back in Apriil<\/a>. Rioux stands at over 7-feet six inches tall.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s unclear when Okechukwu will debut for Texas Tech given their impressive undefeated start to the season. However, if she does take the court it\u2019s certain that she will immediately become must-watch every game as the NCAA Tournament draws closer.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Enjoy free coverage of the top news &amp; trending stories on The Big Lead <\/a>\u2014<\/p>\n<p>NFL: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/nfl-predicting-the-winner-for-every-game-in-week-18\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Predicting the winner for every NFL game in Week 18<\/a><\/p>\n<p>CFB: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/college-football-games-on-today-1-1-26-new-years-bowl-schedule\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">College football games on today 1\/1\/26: New Year\u2019s bowl schedule<\/a><\/p>\n<p>NBA: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/cooper-flagg-outshines-nba-legend-historic-dallas-mavericks-start\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cooper Flagg outshines NBA legend with historic Dallas Mavericks start<\/a><\/p>\n<p>MLB: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/mlb-team-shocks-american-league-fans-over-1-billion-wasted\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MLB team shocks American League fans with over $1 billion wasted<\/a><\/p>\n<p>ENTERTAINMENT: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/usmnt-star-christian-pulisic-shares-truth-sydney-sweeney-dating-rumors\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">USMNT star Christian Pulisic shares truth amid Sydney Sweeney dating rumors<\/a><\/p>\n<p>SPORTS MEDIA: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/caitlin-clark-names-super-bowl-pick-new-heights-cameo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Caitlin Clark names Super Bowl pick during \u2018New Heights\u2019 cameo<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The college basketball season is already nearly halfway done, but one of the Big 12\u2019s elite programs is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[2692,168,170,169,1769,14445],"class_list":["post-107854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-college-basketball","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-texas-tech","tag-womens-college-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}