It's Thanksgiving, and the Texas Tech Men's basketball team is fresh off their season-opening 101-58 win vs. Northwestern State. The men's basketball team has two more games in the next three days, sandwiched around a football trip to Stillwater.
Not to be outdone, the Lady Raider basketball team also won their first game under new head coach Krista Gerlich, 89-56 against UTRGV.
Today we look at things we are thankful for around Texas Tech Athletics.
Thankful for Chris Beard, Ulric Maligi, Mark Adams and the rest of the staff for putting together a good, fun, and exciting team to follow
Currently ranked 14th in the AP top 25 poll, Texas Tech was one of just 15 programs to put up 100 points last night.
Just watch the highlights for yourself...
Thankful for Krista Gerlich coming home
The Lady Raiders haven't made the NCAA Tournament since 2013, and had a rough offseason in the news cycle when USA Today published a story detailing a culture of physical and emotional abuse in the Lady Raiders program.
The program needed some good news and someone to unify the team and fanbase. Enter Krista Gerlich. Since she has taken over the team has recruited at a very high level, retained their top players and yesterday got the season started with a convincing win.
Thankful for impact defensive transfers
Zech McPhearson, Eli Howard, Colin Schooler, Adam Beck and Jacob Morgenstern are all among Texas Tech's top 10 defensive players on the season, per PFF. Some were recruited by Matt Wells, some by Kliff Kingsbury, some have been here for several years and some arrived just a couple months ago.
Regardless, all are a big reason for Tech's success on the defensive side of the ball this season and with the NCAA eligibility freeze this season, all could be back, too.
Thankful for Vivian Gray
It's not often you land an All-American transfer from a conference foe but that is exactly the case here when Gray decided to transfer from Oklahoma State to Texas Tech.
Vivian Gray is one of the top scorers in all of women's college basketball, and in her first game as a Lady Raider put up 24 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists in 31 minutes.
Thankful for Marcus Santos-Silva trusting TTU with his senior season
The big fella in the middle easily put up a double-double in his first game, finishing with 10 points, 12 boards, an assist, a steal and a block in just 18 minutes on the floor.
Tech hasn't had a player average a double-double since Tony Battie in the 1996-97 season, and while it's too early to make any definitive statements, Santos-Silva has the type of game and talent to break that streak.
Thankful for Jonathan Garibay, living his dream and having fun doing it
The surprise hero of Tech's win vs. Baylor a couple weeks ago, Garibay went 4-for-4 on field goals, averaged 49.4 yards per punt and kicked off for several touchbacks, too.
For his efforts he was named the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week.
With special teams struggling all season, the Red Raiders really needed Garibay to step up and he did just that.
Thankful for the NCAA ruling Mac McClung and Jamarius Burton eligible
After the Joel Ntambwe eligibly mess of last season, it was hard to fault any Texas Tech fan who was skeptical the NCAA was going to help the Red Raiders out with Mac McClung or Jamarius Burton.
Thankfully the NCAA defied expectations, and Texas Tech went 2-0 with getting both guards eligible.
McClung started and put up 20 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists and 3 steals, while Burton played a team-high 22 minutes and put up 4 points, 1 rebound and 4 assists. Both will be huge parts of this teams' success in 2020-21.
Thankful for the 2021 recruiting class
Currently ranked as the 79th best class in the country per Rivals, Tech's class is light on numbers but very high on quality. Several of these prospects had other major Power 5 offers, but all 10 high school commitments appear solid in their decision to become Red Raiders.
The class is highlighted by two 4-stars in QB Behren Morton and RB Cam'Ron Valdez.
WR Jerand Bradley is an All-American and OL Jacoby Jackson chose TTU over 40 other offers.
OL Jack Tucker is the leader of an Argyle team who is currently 12-0, and ranked #1 in all of 4A according to DCTF.
Tech had two tight end commits in Jed Castles and Mason Tharp who stand at 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-8, respectively.
Dooda Banks, Charles Esters and Isaac Smith make for a nasty defensive line class.
The staff will add more numbers to this group as we head closer to signing day, and I predict several of these guys will make a big impact as Red Raiders.
