What Does Texas Tech's Win Over Duke Mean Ahead of Big 12 Play?

The No. 19 Texas Tech Red Raiders men's basketball team was desperate for a signature win against a marquee team before it went into conference play. The squad had opportunities against Illinois on the road and Purdue in the Bahamas, but it fell short on both occasions.

It also seemed as though the Red Raiders were on track for one in Dallas against Arkansas, but the Razorbacks came back from an early deficit.

Injuries, size, and personnel were early excuses for why Texas Tech fell short in its early tests. Big man Luke Bamgboye has played just seven games, and the team's defense has struggled without him. The rotations had also been tight in recent contests, a factor head coach Grant McCasland called out as something he needed to amend.

Facing the highest-ranked team on its schedule — the No. 3 Duke Blue Devils — the Red Raiders needed to be at their best. However, they were simultaneously looking for remedies, a potentially dangerous combination. Ultimately, Tech came out on top at basketball's Mecca, Madison Square Garden in New York City, improving to 9-3 with a come-from-behind 82-81 victory.

TOUGHEST TEAM WINS ‼️#TTW | @7BCommercial pic.twitter.com/yuBXVbb7nP
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) December 21, 2025

After conceding 90 points to Northern Colorado and 93 to Arkansas in consecutive contests, Texas Tech locked in when it needed to the most, overcoming an 11-point deficit with 6.5 minutes remaining. The Red Raiders trailed by as much as 17 points but rallied with their backs to the wall.

The star down the stretch was sophomore guard Christian Anderson, who ranks inside the top five in the conference in scoring. He scored 17 of Texas Tech's final 23 points, finishing with a game-high 27 while adding five assists.

"We didn't feel like we even played very great — we didn't play very great in the first half, honestly," McCasland said after the game during the team's press conference. "And Christian is one of those guys who, he's a little bit slow to warm up, sometimes. I mean, he's not always in attack mode."

McCasland shared that he had to push his young guard during a gritty game in which the Red Raiders started slow, and players got into foul trouble. Anderson needed to zero in on his assignment as a scorer to help lead his team to victory.

"He's got such a good feel for the game, and he's such a good passer … but in this game, I challenged him at halftime, 'Dude, you're going to have to score. Like, no, you're going to have to be way more aggressive. You can't wait to see what — no, just go right at him and go get baskets.'"

The Red Raiders flirted with foul trouble down the stretch with a pair of players fouling out: redshirt junior forward LeJuan Watts and sophomore guard Leon Horner. Tech's other star, junior forward JT Toppin, also recorded four fouls; with Bamgboye unavailable, that hampered Tech's defense in the paint.

However, the Red Raiders overcame all the challenges they faced and took down their first top-five opponent since 2022 (vs. No. 1 Baylor). It was also Duke's largest blown lead since 2007, a sign of the resilience Tech played with against the highest level of competition.

One major difference between Texas Tech's win over Duke and its previous contests was in its rotation. Freshman guard Nolan Groves and Horner both saw significant minutes (13 each) for the first time in a while. Groves had not played double-digit minutes since Nov. 7 against Sam Houston State, and Horner had not since Nov. 30 against Wyoming.

Horner fouled out in just 13 minutes of action, while Groves' impact on the court was notable. The freshman hardly made a noise on the stat sheet, but his addition did not go unnoticed by his head coach.

"It's pretty cool when you got a guy like Nolan Groves who shoots an airball and goes 0-for-2 and plays 13 minutes and only has one offensive rebound and three fouls, but he's a plus-13," McCasland said. "And that shows you what impact you can have on a college basketball game, no matter what."

Game Changer 🫡 pic.twitter.com/TPYYWunbv3
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) December 22, 2025

Before the win against Duke, Tech's top win likely came against LSU. Both the Tigers and the Blue Devils have just one loss this season, coming at the hands of the Red Raiders. However, Big 12 play will be a gauntlet; McCasland had previously claimed that it is the second-best league in the world behind the NBA itself.

Texas Tech has a home game against Winthrop on Sunday, Dec. 28, before it opens up the conference slate, which will be a brutal part of its schedule. The Red Raiders first host Oklahoma State on Jan. 3, 2026, before traveling to Houston on Jan. 6, 2026, to face the defending national runners-up.

From there, the schedule does not get any easier with matchups against Colorado, Utah, BYU, Baylor, and then a rematch against Houston. This makes Tech's win over Duke that much more important — proof of what the team is capable of accomplishing when it performs at its best.

"The biggest thing I was thrilled about was just how competitive we were on the glass and defensively down the stretch because offense isn't going to be this team's problem," McCasland said. "I mean, our problem's going to, and has been, just how physical can we be without fouling and can we rebound?"

"… I just got fight and grit and hope and believe in people that you're around and then they believe in each other, and it's contagious," McCasland said. "And the Red Raiders are that way, too. I mean, I don't know. We were outnumbered today, but we were loud, and that's kind of the heart of being a Red Raider, too. It's just like, let people count you out, and let's see what happens."

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