Texas Tech Fans' Holiday Wish List No. 10
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The Texas Tech men's basketball team is currently 8-3 with a big game coming up this weekend. The hope is that they can get some signature wins this season.
The Red Raiders will have plenty of opportunities and chances to get some significant victories this season, as they have some top-ranked teams on their schedule. The key to Texas Tech making another Elite Eight run in the NCAA tournament is to get some wins over ranked teams to secure a favorable seed in the tournament to make their path to the final eight teams of the tournament easier and with less resistance.
Holiday Wish No. 10: To get multiple wins over top 10 ranked teams this season.
As it stands now, Texas Tech will, at a minimum, have seven games against teams that are currently ranked in the top 10 of the AP Top 25.
Their first opportunity will be against No. 3-ranked Duke, which is 10-0, this upcoming Saturday. Upsetting a top-three-ranked team would be a huge momentum builder going into conference play.
Their second opportunity to get a top ten win will be when they are at No. 8-ranked Houston as they begin Big 12 conference play. The Cougars' only loss this season was to Tennessee, but the Red Raiders were the only team to defeat Houston in Big 12 play last season and the only team to defeat the Cougars on their home court last season.
The third chance Texas Tech will have to defeat a current top 10-ranked team will be when they host No. 10-ranked BYU in their fifth conference game of the season. BYU's only loss this season was to UConn, and the Cougars only lost by two points in that game.
The Red Raiders host No. 8 Houston, as these two teams will have played each other twice before the end of January. It would be difficult, but possible, to defeat Houston twice in a season.
On Valentine's Day, Texas Tech travels to play No. 1 ranked Arizona. For Red Raider fans, a victory over the nation's top-ranked team would fulfill their holiday wishes.
The Red Raiders will travel and play No. 4-ranked Iowa State at the end of February in their sixth game against a current top-ten team. A road win against a top-four team would make many holiday wishes come true for Texas Tech fans.
In their 7th scheduled top 10 matchup, the Red Raiders go on the road for their last Big 12 regular season game before the conference tournament. It will be the second time that they will play BYU in hopes of earning a win over a top-10-ranked team.
Can the Red Raiders lose all seven of these games? Yes. It is likely, no. The expectation is to win a minimum of three of these seven games, and if they somehow win five out of seven, that would be amazing. Getting wins over top-10-ranked teams would make many Texas Tech fans' wishes come true this holiday season.
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Ryan Kay is a journalist who graduated from Michigan State in 2003 and is passionate about covering college sports and enjoys writing features and articles covering various collegiate teams. He has worked as an editor at Go Joe Bruin and has been a contributor for Longhorns Wire and Busting Brackets. He is a contributor for Texas Tech On SI.