To say that No. 11 Texas Tech’s game plan revolves around JT Toppin is a huge understatement.
The Red Raiders (2-1) will likely lean on the 6-foot-9 junior forward again Friday night when Milwaukee (2-2) visits Lubbock, Texas.
Toppin tallied 35 points, 11 rebounds, three steals, three assists and three blocks in the Red Raiders’ 81-77 loss at No. 14 Illinois on Tuesday. After missing the opener with an injury, he is averaging 33.0 points and 12.5 boards.
Even with all his offensive highlights, Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland is more impressed with Toppin’s defense.
“Everyone is going to talk about his 35 points, but he had a defensive stretch that I thought was exceptional,” said McCasland. “That is where he has made big strides. We will keep getting better.”
Illinois led by 13 at halftime and Toppin feels responsible for it. He had 11 points and five rebounds in the first half but also had four turnovers.
“I didn’t come out the right way like I should have,” he said. “I was not being a leader in the first half, and you can’t do that against a team like that. We are going to play better. We just need to get out there.”
Toppin isn’t the only Red Raider who is fueling the offense. Texas Tech is averaging 91.0 points per game with 18.7 assists and 16.3 offensive rebounds.
Christian Anderson is averaging 20.0 points, 9.7 assists and 3.0 steals per game. LeJuan Watts, who also missed the opener, is averaging 16.0 points and had 21 points against the Fighting Illini on 8-of-10 shooting. Donovan Atwell is scoring 14.7 points per game and leads the team with 13 three-pointers.
The Panthers are coming off a 101-70 loss at Indiana on Wednesday night.
Danilo Jovanovich led the team with 18 points and six rebounds and Seth Hubbard had 17 points and five boards.
“I thought we got excellent games from Seth — on both sides of the ball — and from Danilo,” coach Bart Lundy said. “It’s hard when they spread you out. This is an opponent (Indiana) that has Final Four potential and if a few things go differently, it’s a different game. I see the growth in our team — if we stay together, we are going to continue to be really hard to beat.”
Lundy was happy with how his Horizon League squad played on the big stage against the Hoosiers. He hopes that experience will help his team handle playing in Big 12 country on Friday.
“I thought we handled the atmosphere and the scoring runs that they made in the first half — we handled it well,” Lundy said. “Adversity with calls … the crowd — I thought we handled that with maturity, I just wish we had gotten a few more stops in the first half.”
Amar Augillard also had a solid game against Indiana with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists.
The Panthers hung tough for most of the first half, trailing 21-16 before the Hoosiers surged to a 51-39 halftime lead.
