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USATSI

One of the best players in Texas Tech history was reportedly killed Monday. Former Red Raider Andre Emmett was shot and killed in Dallas. He was 37. 

Texas Tech, via Twitter, confirmed Emmett's death.

Emmett played at TTU from 2000-2004, finishing his career with 2,256 points -- at the time the most in Big 12 history. (He's now third, behind Oklahoma's Buddy Hield and Baylor's LaceDarius Dunn.)

In 2003-04, Emmett's senior season, he was a Second Team All-America selection, becoming the first player in program history to earn that distinction. (Jarrett Culver became the second TTU player to do it, accomplishing the feat in 2018-19.) TTU, which during Emmett's playing days was traditionally an underachieving program, made two NCAA Tournaments in his four seasons. The Red Raiders, coached by Hall of Famer Bob Knight, were ranked in the AP Top 25 in three of Emmett's four seasons. 

Emmett's most "viral" moment (in a pre-viral era, of course) came during the 2004 college slam dunk contest. He won it -- easily. The college dunk contest has neither the history nor the cultural impact of the NBA one, naturally, but there have been a few great showings over the years. Emmett's ranks near the top, if only because he was one of the first players to bring introduce the jumping-over-the-crowd visual, which he did to clinch his dunk title. 

In the 2004 NBA Draft, Emmett was taken 35th overall by the Seattle SuperSonics and then promptly traded to the Memphis Grizzlies. Emmett played sparingly for one season in the NBA before spending most of the next 13 years of his life playing for more than a dozen overseas teams. In 2012, he briefly made it back to the NBA and was rostered by the New Jersey Nets. 

Emmett played professionally in 2019 for Capitanes de Arecibo, a team in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional league, based in Puerto Rico. Emmett also played in the BIG3 for two seasons.

Emmett was a vintage great college player. Undersized for the NBA but almost unstoppable against regular college competition, he made Texas Tech fun at a time when few knew about Texas Tech basketball in any capacity.