LUBBOCK \u2013 Texas Tech will start the 2025-26 season at No. 10 in the Associated Press Top 25 Men’s Basketball Poll. The preseason ranking is the highest in program history with the previous top billing at No. 13 entering the 2019-20 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Red Raiders are coming off a trip to the 2025 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight and are 51-20 in the first two seasons under head coach Grant McCasland<\/a>. Tech returns JT Toppin<\/a> for his junior season after he was named a consensus all-America, Big 12 Player of the Year, Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and All-Big 12 First Team last season as a sophomore. The team also returns Christian Anderson<\/a> who earned All-Big 12 Freshman Team honors and welcomes five players from the transfer portal in Tyeree Bryan<\/a> (Santa Clara), LeJuan Watts<\/a> (Washington State), Josiah Moseley<\/a> (Villanova), Luke Bamgboye<\/a> (VCU) and Donovan Atwell<\/a> (UNC Greensboro) along with freshman additions Nolan Groves<\/a>, Jaylen Petty<\/a> and LaTrell Hoover<\/a>.<\/p>\n Purdue tops the AP Top 25 Preseason Poll followed by Houston, Florida, UConn and St. John’s in the top five of the rankings. The Big 12 is also represented by No. 8 BYU, No. 13 Arizona, No. 16 Iowa State and No. 19 Kansas. Among teams on Tech’s non-conference schedule are No. 6 Duke, No. 14 Arkansas and possibly Purdue. The top-ranked Boilermakers and Red Raiders are both at the Baha Mar Championship in mid-November with Tech opening against Wake Forest and Purdue playing Memphis on November 20. With three AP Top 10 teams, the Big 12 leads the nation and the six teams ranked in the Big 12 matches the Big Ten and SEC for the most among any conference and ties a Big 12 record entering the season.<\/p>\n Texas Tech finished last season with a 28-9 overall record and was second in the Big 12 standings with a 15-5 conference record. The team advanced to the Elite Eight after running off NCAA Tournament wins over UNC Wilmington, Drake and Arkansas before falling to eventual national champion Florida in San Francisco. The Red Raiders finished last season at No. 8 in the final AP Top 25 poll after going into the national tournament at No. 9. The program has now been ranked in the AP Top 25 for a program record nine straight seasons with its highest ranking in program history coming at No. 6 in the 2018 season. Tech was unranked in last season’s AP Top 25 Preseason Poll but finished the year ranked for seven straight weeks.<\/p>\n Follow the Red Raiders:\u00a0Keep up with Texas Tech men’s basketball news at\u00a0TexasTech.com<\/a>\u00a0and at the team’s social media on\u00a0Instagram<\/a>,\u00a0X<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n