Men's College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: Texas Tech Red Raiders

The Big 12 had a successful year in men’s college basketball in 2020 as the Baylor Bears closed out the season as the national champs. It was a dominant run, and they truly were the best team in college basketball.

The conference comes into the new year looking strong from top to bottom, but there was some drama in the offseason with a few teams planning to leave for the SEC. Texas and Oklahoma will be headed to the SEC in the near future, but for this year at least it’ll be business as usual.

Like many other conferences around the country, Big 12 teams took advantage of the expanded transfer portal and loaded up with all sorts of new faces. Figuring out rotations will be especially important for this group so let’s dive in and take our best crack at deciphering the best players for each squad.

In this one, Texas Tech.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

Texas Tech Red Raiders 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 18-11 (9-8 Big 12), sixth in Big 12
Postseason: Lost in NCAA Tournament second round

Key Departures | Texas Tech Red Raiders

Mac McClung (NBA)
Kyler Edwards (transferred to Houston)

Key Additions | Texas Tech Red Raiders

Davion Warren (transferred from Hampton)
Bryston Williams (transferred from UTEP)
Kevin Obanor (transferred from Oral Roberts)
Mylik Wilson (transferred from Louisiana)
Sardaar Calhoun (transferred from Florida State)
KJ Allen (JUCO transfer)
Adonis Arms (transferred from Winthrop)
Daniel Batcho (transferred from Arizona)

Returners | Texas Tech Red Raiders

Terrence Shannon (12.9 PPG/4 RPG)
Kevin McCullar (10.4 PPG/6.3 RPG/1.7 SPG)
Marcos Santos-Silva (8.3 PPG/6.4 RPG)

Texas Tech Red Raiders Outlook for 2021-2022

Mark Adams is the new Texas Tech coach and should run a system relatively similar to the one Chris Beard utilized, considering Adams was on Beard’s staff. They’ll play a high-level defense and focus on offensive execution on the other end. Only three relevant pieces from 2020 are back, and the new coaching staff used the transfer portal to their advantage by bringing in some really high-level players.

Kevin Obanor was a part of that Cinderella Oral Roberts team from last year that upset Ohio State and Florida while pushing Arkansas to the brink. Obanor performed at a high level against Tier A competition last year and should have no problem acclimating to Big 12 play. Bryson Williams was a 15-and-7 guy at UTEP while Mylik Wilson put up 13 PPG as a key member of Louisiana. There is plenty of talent coming into Lubbock and the team should be competitive right away.

Kevin McCullar, Terrence Shannon and MSS are all going to be strong contributors when it comes to DFS with McCullar/Shannon both on breakout watch.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams and top 100 players for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

The Red Raiders/Longhorns matchups this year are going to be legendary and both teams are stocked to the gills with high major talent. Don’t expect Tech to fall on their face with Chris Beard gone either. Mark Adams is a solid coach who learned from the best and he will have this team competing for a tournament bid by March.