Red Raiders surge to No. 12, igniting Lubbock's basketball fever. Witness their tenacious play and how they're challenging the Big 12's elite.
Texas Tech is officially back in the national spotlight.
The Red Raiders jumped to No. 12 in the latest AP Top 25, stretching their ranking streak to a program-record 20 straight polls and turning Lubbock into a full-blown basketball intersection this week.
If you’ve been watching Tech lately, this rise isn’t a surprise. It’s the natural result of a team that keeps punching late, shooting early, and treating home games like protected turf.
The Raiders are undefeated in Lubbock (10-0), and that building has started to feel less like an arena and more like a very loud science experiment.
The latest proof came against BYU, when Tech stared at a nine-point hole in the second half, shrugged, and climbed out with an 84-71 win that somehow felt even more lopsided than the final score.
That comeback wasn’t a one-off mood swing - it’s become a habit. This team has won eight of its last 10 and has been stacking wins.
The engine is JT Toppin, who’s currently putting together a run of double-doubles so consistent it’s starting to look like a subscription service.
He’s doing everything: scoring, owning the glass, and even mixing in perimeter shots like he’s trying to collect every badge in the Big 12.
Meanwhile, Christian Anderson has been the conductor, leading the league in assists and turning Tech’s offense into a constant-motion headache for defenses.
LeJuan Watts is flirting with a career milestone, too, on the doorstep of 1,000 points, which means someone in his family is already planning the “welcome to the club” text.
And then there’s the big picture: Tech’s identity is pretty clear.
This is a team that bombs threes at a league-leading pace, hits them at an elite clip, and regularly gets to double-digit made triples like it’s part of the pregame checklist.
Now comes the two-part test: a road trip to Baylor on Tuesday night, then a massive Saturday showdown back home against Houston - a rematch that already has extra juice because ESPN’s College GameDay is rolling into Lubbock that morning.
Doors open early, the cameras will be rolling, and the vibe should be somewhere between “festival” and “warning label.”
Tech isn’t just ranked. Tech is loud again. And the Big 12 is about to find out how loud.