Grant McCasland talks about how JT Toppin can be even better

When the Texas Tech basketball team brought sophomore forward JT Toppin into the program this spring, Red Raiders everywhere were thrilled given that the Dallas native was the Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year at New Mexico in 2023-24. And through three games this year, Toppin has been even better than anyone in Lubbock could have hoped he would be.

To open this season, the 6-foot-9 forward is averaging 22.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game. What's more, he's shooting 62.3% from the floor which leads the Big 12.

However, there is an area in which Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland would love to see improvement from Toppin.

"It's not hard to tell he's a load offensively," McCasland said after Wednesday's victory over Wyoming. "I mean, the guy can make 3s, he can make jump-hooks from 15 feet, he can score with both hands, he can get to the free-throw line, and tonight with 12 rebounds in 22 minutes, you can see that he can really attack both ends of the floor on the glass.

"I think the area of improvement needs to be how active can we continue to get him defensively where he's not just surviving a possession because he's going to play against great players in our league."

So far, everyone on the Red Raider roster has a defensive rating (an estimate of how many points a player allows per 100 possessions) below 100.0, which is considered strong. That's likely because of the level of competition that Tech has faced so far.

Therefore, it is tough to tell statistically how good Toppin has been as a defender. After all, his current defensive rating is an unsustainable 72.8.

Last season with the Lobos, he was excellent in that statistical category as well, though. In fact, he led their team with a rating of 93.8.

On the surface, the defense that Toppin has played throughout his short college career and early in this season has been statistically excellent. However, McCasland seems to have a high bar for the rising star.

Perhaps he wants to make sure that Toppin always remains focused on playing defense even when everyone is praising his offensive prowess. Or, perhaps there are subtle things McCasland sees that are not noticeable by the common fan.

Whatever the reason though, McCasland wants to see more out of Toppin on defense and he thinks there's another level his prized transfer can get to on that end of the floor. If that's true, and Toppin does take another step defensively, then he could become one of the best Texas Tech basketball players of this generation.