Grant McCasland and the Texas Tech Red Raiders are facing arguably their toughest test of the season so far. The Red Raiders have indeed managed to beat the likes of the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats in Tucson and the No. 6 Houston Cougars in Lubbock and then also the No. 3 Duke Blue Devils in New York.
But the Red Raiders are hitting the road to face off against the No. 4 Iowa State Cyclones and they’re taking on a team they’re tied with for second in the Big 12 while not having JT Toppin (their leading scorer and rebounder) available to play.
That’s going to make this game a bit tricky, just to be completely honest. It’s going to be difficult. There’s no other way to say that.
Both teams are 11-4 in the Big 12 right now and they’ve both played so excellently this season. But there’s a few other records that we need to discuss here. Like the fact that in Big 12 play, Texas Tech is just 4-3. And overall this season, Iowa State is 15-0 at home.
I’d like to go back and amend what I said when I said “it’s going to be difficult.” I’d like to revise that. It’s going to be insanely difficult to go into Ames and overcome that homecourt advantage without the leading scorer and rebounder for Texas Tech.
No. 16 Texas Tech faces uniquely tough challenge in trying to upset the No. 4 Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday
It’ll be interesting to see who continues to step up for Texas Tech. So far, Christian Anderson has led the way (he scored 31 points, had 11 rebounds, and dished out seven assists vs. the Cincinnati Bearcats), but we’ve also seen some impressive moments from LeJuan Watts and Donovan Atwell.
Against a team as good as Iowa State, we’ll likely need stellar performances from all three for Texas Tech to sneak into Ames and hand the Cyclones their first home loss of the year.
Should Texas Tech find a way to do that, the Red Raiders would then showcase that they are certainly capable of truly great things down the stretch of the season, even with JT Toppin sidelined.