Saturday night's 82-81 win over No. 6 Houston by the Texas Tech basketball team will go down in Red Raider history. Of course, it would have been hard enough to win on the road in one of the toughest environments in college basketball with all hands on deck but then to do so without star forward JT Toppin and head coach Grant McCasland, each of whom were ejected early in the game, made the victory one that no Texas Tech fan will soon forget.
After the game, McCasland spoke to the media, and in his opening remarks, he said that the win was truly a team effort.
"There's a lot going on, so I'm sure we'll be here for a little while," he said. "But man, what a remarkable environment, first and foremost. And man, I have so much respect for Coach Sampson and his program Houston, because of the way they compete, and because of the way they practice, and because of the way they prepare. And we knew it would take everything we got to get this one done, and we knew we'd have to handle adversity to do it too. And man, I can't...I've been a part of some games in my life, but I can't remember being a part of one like this, man.
"It is like the most beautiful picture of what being a part of a team really is about is. And just the end, Eemeli Yalaho, E.Y., hadn't been playing, and he's the one that gets the stop to make Roberts travel and to basically win the game. And you win it with your defense and a team that's not known for their defense, but a team that found a way to win it with a guy that hadn't been playing is just honestly, it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever been a part of, and I'm so thankful for our group, for our staff, and to be at a university that travels and loves basketball and is behind us no matter what. And I'm, I love being a part of this team, because when you're at your worst, and other people can be at their best, and what a great picture of what this is really about."
Next, after remarks from guards Elijah Hawkins and Chance McMillian, McCasland addressed what everyone wanted him to. He spoke about Toppins' ridiculous ejection after he was assessed a bogus Flagrant-2 foul on a play in which he accidentally kicked a Houston player in the groin while jumping to make a pass.
"Well, this is all I'm going to say about him," he said. "We can talk about it as much as you want, but this is, this is genuinely my thought. Okay. JT, Toppin is a left-handed basketball player, and we worked against the double team, and he spun to throw the basketball with his right, but he gets crowded quickly, and he's trying to throw with his left. And I don't know, we should call Patrick Mahomes and ask him, because if you're in a throwing motion, you have to switch hands, and you're a lefty, you're gonna have to throw your body in a way to torque it, to throw it with your left hand, and your body's gonna turn in such a way that your right foot is gonna go forward to throw it. I don't know what else to say.
"If your judgment is that this is something that we told him that we're going to try to do something in a double team...two things I love about JT Toppin, one, he really was excited to play in this game, and he competes, and he's done a lot to put himself in this position. And he went to the locker room in complete disbelief. He did not know why. He still had no idea. In regards to like, he's basically in tears in the locker room but I will tell you this because we had a TV feed in the locker room, he was jumping up and down and celebrating so loud, and it was probably one of the greatest hugs I've ever had in my life, genuinely, because there was a genuine belief that we were still going to win this game. He was just in disbelief as to why he was ejected. And honestly, if your perspective is that, I can't help you, your judgment is flawed. If that's what you think happened."
McCasland then said that there was no real explanation by the officiating crew of the call against Toppin. Of course, McCasland said that there wasn't any need for an explanation as to why he was ejected. That was obvious.
"Well, there wasn't a conversation why they tossed me," he said. "I'm pretty clear why I got tossed, but in regard to him, there wasn't a conversation other than that. There was a flagrant too. That was it. And I obviously didn't agree."
In the game's final moments, some unlikely heroes emerged and McCasland spoke about two young players who came up big when the game was on the line.
"Yeah, what I'll say about this entire team," he said, "and Christian Anderson embodies, I'll tell you where I thought he was tremendous. Was guarding LJ [Cryer], I mean, because LJ, got him once on a step back and made a three. And I'll tell you what he is. He doesn't back down. So you know who was guarding the middle ball screen to finish the game, Christian Anderson and Eemeli Yalaho. I mean, you want to talk about what it means to be a part of a team. It's two guys, a freshman and a sophomore, that were playing and figured out a way to get a stop against two All-Big 12 players, and it just speaks to the fight of this team and the grit that we have on this roster"
Finally, McCasland was asked about his team scoring over 80 points on the best defensive team in the nation. He said his team isn't as concerned with a point total as it is with its execution.
"Yeah, well, I mean, you saw the same thing we did," he said. "I mean, like, that's an elite defense. And I'll tell you, our coaching staff and our team genuinely did believe that we had the makeup to win the game. Now, how many points you score? We don't care about that. Honestly, we don't. It's just executing what you know the team needs to do.
"And I do think we've got a lot of talented offensive players, and how do you get them in space where they can take advantage of it? And getting to the free throw line is a big part of this game also. And how do you do that against the defense? And we didn't convert on all of them, but you know, to get 14 offensive rebounds and to get 30 threes up and get to the free throw line 34 times here on the road.
"I mean, that's a that's a gritty team. And you, you can watch this team on film and know that they don't give up baskets easily. I mean, they're they're as good as it gets in the country. So these are earned, and you got to do it in a competitive way, aggressively. And our guys were completely locked in. And I'm telling you, our coaching staff is unbelievable, on display for everybody to see, not being a part of this, that our guys delivered. And it just speaks to the staff and the grit of this group."