The Texas Tech men's basketball team continued its ascent up the national rankings, landing at No. 15 in The Associated Press Top 25 and in the USA TODAY coaches' poll.

The Red Raiders climbed five and six spots, respectively, from where they were slotted last week in the two polls.

Tech (16-3, 5-1 in the Big 12) leads the conference by one-half game over No. 4 Houston (18-2, 5-2) and No. 12 Iowa State (16-4, 5-2). The Red Raiders are two games up in the loss column on No. 8 Kansas (16-4, 4-3), No. 25 TCU (15-5, 4-3), Kansas State (14-6, 4-3) and No. 18 Baylor (14-5, 3-3).

Tech plays TCU at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Fort Worth.

The Red Raiders have won 11 of their past 12 games in a stretch that started Dec. 6. On Saturday, Tech beat Oklahoma 85-84 after trailing 68-59 with seven minutes left.

On Monday, Tech guard Chance McMillian was named the Big 12 newcomer of the week. The 6-foot-3 senior from Vallejo, California, scored a career-high 27 points in the victory over Oklahoma, leading the comeback with 17 points in the second half. He made 6 of 8 from 3-point range and finished with eight rebounds.

Tech guard Pop Isaacs begins the week as the Big 12's fifth-leading scorer, averaging 17.0 points per game. Averaging in or near double digits are guard Joe Toussaint (13.4 ppg), center Warren Washington (10.3 ppg), McMillian (9.9 ppg) and guard Darrion Williams (9.2 ppg).

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This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech basketball keeps ascending in national polls