No. 3 Illinois walks into Tuesday night with the kind of offense that can make a road game feel like a runway.
The Fighting Illini have opened the 2026-27 season with a No. 1 national ranking in KenPom’s offensive efficiency, and they’ll try to keep rolling against No. 16 Texas Tech in a Big Ten vs.
Big 12 matchup that already has a lot of intrigue.
Illinois has looked every bit like a title contender through two games, beating Fairleigh Dickinson and Penn while putting up 120 and 112 points. The scoring has been spread across the roster, too, with six players averaging at least 12.0 points per game. Senior Andrej Stojakovic is setting the tone at 22.5 points per game, and freshman Quentin Coleman is right behind him at 16.0.
That’s the challenge for Texas Tech: the Red Raiders have been solid to start the year, but they haven’t faced anything like this yet. They opened with wins over Jackson State and Bethune-Cookman, and they’ll be without star forward JT Toppin, who is recovering from a torn ACL and isn’t expected back until sometime during conference play. His return should eventually give Texas Tech a major scoring lift, but it won’t help here.
For now, the Red Raiders are leaning on senior guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, who has quickly become their top scoring option at 15.0 points per game. He’s also adding 3.0 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.
Gibbs-Lawhorn brings plenty of experience with 100 games and 39 starts under his belt, and he’s already shown he can fill it up after dropping 25 against Bethune-Cookman in his last outing. That comes after a 2-for-8 shooting night in the opener.
His matchup angle adds another layer, since Gibbs-Lawhorn started his college career at Illinois and played two seasons for Brad Underwood before transferring to UNLV, where he averaged 20.7 points per game in 2025-26.
The pace battle is another big piece of this one. Illinois ranks 43rd nationally in adjusted tempo, while Texas Tech sits all the way down at 315th. The Red Raiders will want to drag this game into the mud and keep the Illini from turning it into a track meet, but that’s a tough ask against a team that’s shooting 57.1 percent from the field and 37.2 percent from 3.
Texas Tech has been efficient enough to win its first two games, but the numbers also show why this is a difficult spot. The Red Raiders haven’t reached 80 points yet and are shooting 43.8 percent from the field and below 30 percent from deep. Illinois, meanwhile, has actually been the better defensive team so far, ranking 20th in adjusted defensive efficiency compared with Texas Tech at 24th.
That’s why the edge goes to the road team in this one. Texas Tech is a better test than Illinois has seen so far, but the Illini’s firepower looks like the difference if they get hot from outside.
I’m taking Illinois to win on the road.
In Other News...
Illinois Walks Into A Texas Tech Test That Could Get Uncomfortable
Texas Tech has opened the season with two wins and now gets a much stiffer measuring stick when No. 3 Illinois comes to town. The Red Raiders will have to navigate the matchup without some important frontcourt pieces on either side, which puts even more pressure on Texas Techs depth and the players asked to absorb extra minutes and extra responsibility.
That means names like Bassala Bagayoko and Darrion Williams become central to how well the Red Raiders can hold up inside, while the perimeter battle should be just as revealing. Cruz Davis and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn give Texas Tech a backcourt that will be tested by Illinois guards Quentin Coleman and Stefan Vaaks, and if the game turns into a guard-driven fight, the Red Raiders may find out quickly how comfortable they are in an early-season spotlight. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Tech Faces A Big 12 Test Its Defense Must Survive
Texas Tech heads into its trip to Boone-Pickens Stadium with plenty on the line, and the focus inside the building has been squarely on surviving a dangerous Oklahoma State offense. The Red Raiders know what is waiting for them in a late kickoff against a team led by first-year head coach Eric Morris, and their coaches have spent the week studying the Cowboys quarterback Drew Mestemaker and running back Caleb Hawkins while also sorting through what Texas Tech has done well and where it still needs to tighten up.
For a team that controls its own path in the Big 12 championship race, this is the kind of game that can sharpen the picture in a hurry. Texas Tech does not just need another solid outing, it needs its defense to hold up against a matchup that will demand discipline from start to finish, and the Red Raiders will find out under the lights at 8:30 p.m. whether their preparation matches the stakes. [Read more 🡒]
Former Illini Adds A Dangerous Twist To Illinois Biggest Test
Illinois is getting ready for one of its biggest early tests against No. 16 Texas Tech, and the matchup comes with an extra layer of familiarity. Former Illini guard Dravyn Gibbs-Lawhorn is now on the other side, giving Brad Underwood and his staff a player they know well and a scouting wrinkle that goes beyond the usual conference tape. Underwood addressed Gibbs-Lawhorns scoring ability in a pregame press conference, underscoring how much attention the Red Raiders backcourt addition has already drawn.
The question now is how that offense carries over when the competition gets bigger and the possessions get tighter. Gibbs-Lawhorn has shown he can put the ball in the basket, but Illinois is the kind of high-major opponent that can force a player to prove it again and again. For the Illini, it is not just about guarding a familiar face. It is about finding out whether his recent scoring success can hold up on a stage like this. [Read more 🡒]