Texas Tech basketball fans finally have the full home non-conference picture. This is a schedule built to ramp up for the gauntlet of Big 12 play. But there is one marquee game that will have a March Madness feel to it in November.
The basketball program already got a big boost with the return of Darrion Williams, a key piece from the 2025 March run that ended in the Elite Eight. The season opens at home on Nov. 2 against Jackson State. The Red Raiders look to continue Grant McCasland’s perfect record in openers and a program streak of 26 straight season-opening wins.
Bethune-Cookman follows on Nov. 5 as the reigning SWAC regular-season champs, giving fans an early gut-check before the marquee non-conference matchup arrives.
That marquee game is Nov. 10 against Illinois. The Fighting Illini are fresh off a trip to last season’s Final Four as they come to United Supermarkets Arena in the second half of a home-and-home series.
Last year, when these two teams met in Illinois, it was Illinois notching the early-season win by a score of 81-77. This is the kind of test that will tell us plenty about how quickly this roster gels.
From there, Stonehill (Nov. 14) and New Orleans (Nov. 18) round out November before the calendar flips to December. Omaha (Dec. 08) and Incarnate Word (Dec. 15) offer measured tune-ups. The home slate closes Dec. 28 against Mississippi Valley State before Big 12 play begins.
What makes this schedule intriguing isn’t just the opponents; it’s the roster taking the floor. JT Toppin will be returning after an ACL tear. But Toppin still managed to earn a First-Team All-American selection even with missing the last month of the season.
He averaged 21.8 points a year ago, and a loaded transfer class joins him in Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (20.7 ppg at UNLV), Cruz Davis (20.1 ppg at Hofstra), and Damarion Dennis (11.2 ppg at Wyoming). Pair that firepower with a 46-game non-conference home winning streak and season tickets that have already sold out.
This isn’t the flashiest home slate McCasland has ever put together, but it’s efficient. It gives the team a few opportunities to build early confidence, get one signature test against Illinois, and enter Big 12 play battle-tested.
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This article originally appeared on Red Raiders Wire: Texas Tech’s home non-conference schedule brings Illinois to Lubbock
Reporting by Andrew McCleary, Red Raiders Wire / Red Raiders Wire
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By Andrew McCleary, Red Raiders Wire | USA TODAY Network
