{"id":61945,"date":"2025-08-06T06:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T06:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/61945\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T06:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T06:07:08","slug":"why-lejuan-watts-is-texas-techs-most-important-team-transfer-for-2025-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/61945\/","title":{"rendered":"Why LeJuan Watts is Texas Tech\u2019s most important team transfer for 2025-26"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">Since his arrival in Lubbock two seasons ago, Grant McCasland has done a fantastic job getting Texas Tech back on track. The Red Raiders had taken a slight downturn under predecessor Mark Adams, but McCasland\u2019s first two seasons have corrected that course. This program was back in the Big Dance while tying for 3rd in the Big 12 in his debut before advancing to the Elite Eight last season, pushing eventual champion Florida to the brink.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6p\">What has become enormous news for the Red Raiders is the return of JT Toppin, the leading scorer and rebounder from last season who\u2019ll continue to be a rising star as a junior. Texas Tech loses a ton of talent to graduation or transfer, including starters Elijah Hawkins, Chance McMillian, and Darrion Williams, but this team does get Christian Anderson back after really solid production as a freshman last season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6s\">As for filling in the holes on the roster, McCasland and his staff have landed a very nice flock of talent from the transfer portal. Former VCU big Luke Bamgboye provides depth in the frontcourt while Villanova\u2019s Josiah Moseley could play big minutes at power forward. A flock of impressive wings fill the rest of this transfer class, with Texas Tech notably nabbing Donovan Atwell from UNC Greensboro alongside Tyeree Bryan out of Santa Clara.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6v\">The fifth and final name is the most impressive of the group in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/lejuan-watts-1.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">LeJuan Watts<\/a>, a 6-6 wing originally out of Fresno. Watts was the Big Sky Rookie of the Year at Eastern Washington before following coach David Riley to Washington State for this past season. As a sophomore, he became a full-time starter and averaged 13.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game with solid efficiency numbers.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6y\">Watts performed at a high level and took that measured step forward as a sophomore, becoming a reliable scorer and distributor in the WCC. He ranked 5th in that league in true shooting percentage with the hopes that he can just as effective an offensive weapon for the Red Raiders. He\u2019ll slide into a major role next to Anderson in the backcourt, giving the Red Raiders a dynamic duo that they\u2019ll depend heavily on moving forward.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"71\">Not exactly known as a shooter, Watts is an efficient weapon who can make plays all over the court. He\u2019s most important here not just because of his talent but because the Red Raiders really needed another scoring threat like him. He\u2019s not someone who\u2019s going to knock down several 3-pointers each night, but Watts can score in bunches and facilitate and another fantastic season in Lubbock only happens if he\u2019s on his game this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since his arrival in Lubbock two seasons ago, Grant McCasland has done a fantastic job getting Texas Tech&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,398,400,401,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-61945","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}