Tuesday night, college basketball fans were robbed of what could have been a fantastic head-to-head matchup when Texas Tech took on Baylor. Entering the game, both teams featured star power forwards and the showdown between Tech's JT Toppin and Baylor's Norchad Omier should have been one of the season's best individual matchups.
Entering the game, Toppin was averaging 15.3 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, Omier was putting up an average of 15.4 points and pulling down 10.4 rebounds per contest.
Unfortunately, that clash of titans didn't last long because only eight minutes into the game, Toppin went down in a heap after stepping on a Baylor player's foot and turning his ankle. At the time, he had already scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Toppin would return to the floor to begin the second half but he was clearly not himself. Playing only a few minutes before leaving the game for good, he grabbed just one rebound and scored no points after his injury.
It is frustrating for Texas Tech fans to see another star impacted by an in-game twisted ankle. Already this year, Darrion Williams has suffered the same injury in three different games.
Of course, earlier this year, Toppin missed four games in the month of December with an undisclosed lower-leg injury and in Saturday's game, he was ejected after just four minutes because of an egregiously-bad Flagrant-2 foul was levied against him. Thus, Toppin has missed portions of some important games this year.
Naturally, after Tuesday's game, Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland was asked about Toppin's status. He provided an encouraging update after explaining why Toppin finished the game on the bench.
"Yeah, you know, I mean, I look at those plays," he said, "there's like, a rebound play in front of the basket on our side, and like, he's such a dynamic player that it's obvious when he doesn't have the same lift or he doesn't have the same aggressiveness to the ball. And one I thought Federiko was playing great, so I went down there and talked to him. They're like, coach, we're winning. Let's roll with it.
"I mean, they've got a great attitude toward this. That's what you want with a team like this. But also, you know, originally, when you see him limping like that, you're like, 'Oh no', but from what I understand, there's quite a bit of optimism there. And the way he came back in, the way he felt after was significantly better than first anticipated."
The fact that Toppin at least felt capable of trying to play again after initially leaving the game was encouraging. While he didn't end the game on the floor, he appears to have avoided a huge injury scare. However, there is no telling how he will feel after a day or two goes by.
Without Toppin in the game, Omier did some serious work against the Red Raiders. He scored 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds with most of his damage coming after Toppin left the game for good.
There's no question that the Red Raiders want to have a full-strength Toppin in the lineup. Fortunately, this team has proven that it can win games without its leading scorer and rebounding in the fray as it did against Baylor. Still, for Tech to maximize what this season can be, Toppin will be needed. Hopefully, he can recover quickly from his latest injury because he obviously takes the Red Raiders to a new level when he's on the court.