March Madness begins for No. 3 Texas Tech with a 2025 NCAA Tournament West Region First Round matchup against No. 14 UNC Wilmington at 9:10 p.m. on Thursday at the INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas.
The regional site also includes No. 6 Missouri and No. 11 Drake playing at 6:35 p.m. on Thursday to set up an NCAA Second Round contest between the two advancing teams on Saturday. The game between the Red Raiders (25-8) and Seahawks (27-7) will be broadcast on truTV while the Texas Tech Sports Network radio call can be heard locally on Double T 97.3 and the national radio coverage is on SiriusXM channel 211.
The Red Raiders are playing in the program's 21st national tournament and have gone from an unranked team throughout most of the regular season to being ranked in the Top 10 of the national polls for five straight weeks. Tech, which is No. 9 in the AP Top 25 and USA TODAY Coaches Poll, finished second in the Big 12 standings after going 15-5 in conference play, setting the program's record for most total conference victories and with eight road wins in conference play. The team has won seven of its last 10 games entering the national tournament to match its highest seeding in program history.
"With this group, I think there is a real urgency to want to play together as long as we can," Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. "They really do love each other. It's genuine. I think that is a big part of winning and competing this time of year. You have to be more unselfish than you've ever been. More humble than you've ever been. I think there has to be a realness to do whatever you need to do to get it done. Every game will be different and this first game will take everything we have to win. We're aware of that and I think our guys are willing to do it."
The West Region also includes No. 1 Florida, No. 2 St. John's, No. 4 Maryland, No. 5 Memphis, No. 7 Kansas, No. 8 UConn, No. 9 Oklahoma, No. 10 Arkansas, No. 12 Colorado State, No. 13 Grand Canyon, No. 15 Omaha and No. 16 Norfolk State. The West Region's Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games will be played next week in San Francisco at the Chase Center. Amongst the West Region teams, Tech has only played the Jayhawks this season, earning a 78-73 win on March 1 at Allen Fieldhouse. The Red Raiders advanced to the 2022 Sweet 16 where they played at the Chase Center, falling to Duke in the third round of the tournament.
McCasland has led the Red Raiders to the NCAA Tournament in each of his first two seasons and will be in the national tournament for the third time in his career as a head coach. The team has nine players who have experienced the NCAA Tournament with a combined 21 games. NCAA Tournament Experience: Kerwin Walton (2021, 2022 – *North Carolina; 2024 – Texas Tech); Chance McMillian (2021, 2023 – *Grand Canyon; 2024 – Texas Tech); Darrion Williams (2023 – *Nevada; 2024 – Texas Tech), Jack Francis (2024 - Texas Tech), Eemeli Yalaho (2024 – Texas Tech), JT Toppin (2024 – *New Mexico), Kevin Overton (2024 – *Drake), Elijah Hawkins (2023 - *Howard), Federiko Federiko (2023 - *Pitt).
"These guys know what it takes to play in the tournament," McCasland said. "They want to win in the tournament. I'm looking at one factor. Are we ready to play as a team. That's what I think is important and I think our team is ready. You can think a lot about other teams right now or the path to get there, but our focus is how can we be at our absolute best on Thursday and be ready to go. There wasn't a big reaction when we heard our name called. We've put ourselves in a position to play in the tournament, but also there is a real sense that we haven't done what we want to do at this point. This journey is just now getting started. Our guys are leaning into how difficult this is going to be."
Toppin leads the Red Raiders this season with 18.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 15 double-doubles this season, earning all-America honors, Big 12 Player of the Year, Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, All-Big 12 First Team and All-Big 12 Newcomer Team. Tech has four players averaging in double-figure scoring with Williams (14.3), Chance McMillian (14.2), and Anderson (10.8). Williams is an All-Big 12 First Team selection and McMillian was tabbed an All-Big 12 Second Team member. Hawkins is sixth nationally with a 3.23 assist-to-turnover ratio (197 assists – 61 turnovers) and is 13th in the country with 6.4 assists per game. He recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 assists in the Big 12 quarterfinal win over Baylor for his fifth double-double of the season and enters the tournament only 15 assists away from matching the program's single-season assist record. Toppin recorded his 15th double-double of the season with 26 points and 10 rebounds against Baylor in the Big 12 quarterfinals before having a streak of three straight double-doubles with 25-plus scoring end with 11 points and six rebounds in the Big 12 semifinal loss to Arizona. Anderson, who was named to the All-Big 12 Freshman Team, matched a career-high with 21 points at ASU in the regular-season finale for his third game scoring over 20 points in his freshman season before recording his 17th double-figure scoring performance with 19 points against Arizona in the semifinals of the conference tournament. Walton and McMillian are advancing to their fourth NCAA Tournament in their careers as fifth-year seniors.
As a program, Texas Tech has played in 20 NCAA Tournaments and is 19-21 all-time. The Red Raiders were a No. 6 seed last season, falling 80-67 to NC State in the first round in Pittsburgh. Tech advanced to the 2019 NCAA Final Four as a three-seed where it fell 85-77 in overtime to Virginia in the championship game. The Red Raiders have reached national prominence in recent years, making the NCAA Elite Eight in 2018, the final Monday night in 2019 and the 2022 Sweet 16. The program was also at its highest national seed at No. 3 – coming in 1996, 2018, 2019 and 2022.
Texas Tech and UNC Wilmington will be meeting for only the second time ever with the Red Raiders earning an 85-76 win on November 22, 2002, to open Bob Knight's second season in Lubbock in the only previous matchup. Tech's all-time leading scorer Andre Emmett led the Red Raiders with 23 points in the game. UNCW played one Big 12 team this season, dropping an 84-66 decision at Kansas on November 19.
UNC Wilmington earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Coastal Athletic Conference Championship. The program will be playing in its seventh NCAA Tournament, making its first appearance since 2016-17. The Seahawks went 14-4 during CAA play and then ran through Hampton, College of Charleston and Delaware to capture the postseason tournament. Donovan Newby led the team with 17 points in the conference championship game after going 8-for-8 at the free-throw line and also adding four assists. Noah Ross had 14 points, Bo Montgomery scored 13 and Khamari McGriff finished with 10 to give the Seahawks four double-figure scorers in the 76-72 win. UNC Wilmington was 24-for-29 at the free-throw line to overcome a 4-for-22 showing from 3-point range to earn the bid to the NCAA Tournament.
"They are tough and physical," McCasland said. "They play hard. Tons of respect for them. We know what this is. When you make it to the tournament you are playing a great team. We're looking forward to this first round."
The Seahawks come into the national tournament 14th nationally with a 7.3 rebounding advantage over its opponents this season and led the CAA with 22.1 free-throw attempts per game, 16.5 free throw made, 79.4 points per game and a 9.5 scoring margin. Newby leads the team with 14.6 points per game and 118 assists this season while McGriff is scoring 11.6 and leads the team with a 66.1 shooting percentage (160-for-242). Newby is 75-for-361 (35.7 percent) to lead the team from 3-point range and is 18th nationally by shooting 89.1 percent from the free-throw line (139-for-156). Sean Moore tops UNCW with 6.5 rebounds per game along with scoring 8.8 per after grabbing eight rebounds in its tournament final. The Seahawks have limited their opponents to 69.9 points through its 34 games this season and come into the matchup against the Red Raiders shooting 47.2 percent from the field.
UNCW head coach Takayo Siddle is in his fifth season in Wilmington and is leading the program to its first NCAA Tournament in his tenure. He is currently 106-46 leading the program after assistant coaching roles at Gardner-Webb, UNCW and NC State.
