Texas Tech’s 2027 men’s basketball roster is coming together fast, and the Red Raiders have been busy taking advantage of an offseason that suddenly opened more doors than anyone expected.
A few months before tip-off in West Texas, Grant McCasland’s group already has a different look. Texas Tech brought in guards Cruz Davis, Damarion Dennis and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn back in April, then added former UCF forward Jamichael Stillwell and brought back Darrion Williams, who spent last season at NC State. That wave of movement has helped reshape a roster that lost six key pieces to either the portal or the draft.
The reason so many veteran players are suddenly back on the board traces to last week’s preliminary hearing, when U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney of Colorado granted a preliminary injunction giving the class of 2022 an extra fifth year after that group was left out of the NCAA’s plans for its new 5-for-5 eligibility rule. The ruling also allowed athletes who did not sign a professional contract to return to their former schools or transfer if they entered the portal during its initial opening, as long as roster limits and revenue-sharing totals were followed.
For Texas Tech, that has created a chance to reload with experienced pieces at a time when the calendar is moving quickly toward fall.
The frontcourt has already been bolstered by the return of JT Toppin, who was on pace to be in the mix for another Big 12 Player of the Year run before a season-ending injury ended his year late in the calendar. With Toppin back in place, Stillwell and Williams give Tech more help in the paint after the Red Raiders lost Luke Bamgboye and LeJuan Watts through the portal.
Stillwell was fourth on UCF in scoring and ranked among the Big 12’s top five rebounders. Williams, meanwhile, led NC State with 14.0 points per game and added more than five rebounds a night in his lone season there.
He also knows exactly what McCasland wants after his first run in Lubbock, when he helped Texas Tech reach the 2025 NCAA Elite Eight and earned All-Big 12 First Team honors with 15 points per game. In a college basketball era where continuity is hard to find, that familiarity matters.
There’s a chance Williams and Stillwell could open the season as the frontcourt partners alongside Toppin in November.
The backcourt has changed just as dramatically. Texas Tech lost Christian Anderson to the NBA and also saw sophomore guard Jaylen Petty enter the portal after both were major scoring options late last season once Toppin went down. The Red Raiders also lost Nolan Groves, Leon Horner and Jazz Henderson through the portal earlier in the spring.
To replace that production, Tech turned to Davis, Dennis and Gibbs-Lawhorn. Each brings scoring punch and a history of handling heavy minutes.
Davis led Hofstra in scoring at nearly 20 points per game. Dennis was third on Wyoming in scoring as a sophomore and logged the fourth-most minutes for the Cowboys.
Gibbs-Lawhorn averaged 20 points a night at UNLV. That gives McCasland a group of guards who can all put up points on any given night while adding depth to a backcourt that took a hit.
Even with the losses, the Red Raiders have built back toward a deeper roster. They have 11 spots filled between returning players, newcomers and high school recruits, leaving four openings still available.
One of those could go to Donovan Atwell, who is reportedly in line for a return after playing a major role during his first season in West Texas. Atwell set the school record for made three-pointers and also established a new conference record from beyond the arc, quickly becoming one of the country’s most dangerous perimeter shooters.
He went undrafted after declaring for the 2026 NBA Draft, though he did sign an Exhibit-10 summer league contract with the Chicago Bulls. Reports have connected him with a return to Texas Tech under the new fifth-year eligibility ruling.
November is still a ways off, but Texas Tech still has room to keep adding before the season starts.
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