In the first game following JT Toppin’s season-ending injury, Grant McCasland and the Texas Tech Red Raiders were forced to figure out how to adapt and change the way the team approaches attacking its opponents. And so far, things are looking pretty good.
LeJuan Watts wasn’t the only reason for that, but he was a huge reason for Texas Tech thriving in its Saturday afternoon matchup against the Kansas State Wildcats.
While Donovan Atwell’s 26 points and Christian Anderson’s 21 points and nine assists will get the bulk of the attention, Watts was right there as Texas Tech’s third leading scorer in a remarkably efficient way that helped the Red Raiders vs. Kansas State.
In just 26 minutes of play against the Wildcats, Watts managed to score 19 points, grab six rebounds, and deal out a couple of assists and he did all of that on just 6-of-11 shooting and 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
Texas Tech needed LeJuan Watts to thrive and he was ultra efficient in a quiet way against the Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday
There’s no way that Watts can, all on his own, replace what Toppin was providing the Red Raiders, but he definitely demonstrated that he can provide a physical presence for Texas Tech that they’re missing with Toppin sidelined.
Watts isn’t a perfect replacement for a 6-foot-9, 230 pound forward like Toppin, but the redshirt junior 6-foot-7 forward grabbed six rebounds (three of which were offensive rebounds) as the Red Raiders are working to figure out how exactly they can replace Toppin in the totality of what they do as a team.
Add in the efficient and impressive scoring that Watts brought to the table and you’ve got a pretty impressive performance that provides a fair bit of hope for the remainder of the Texas Tech basketball season.
It remains to be seen how Watts and Texas Tech will do when facing tougher teams than one of the worst in the Big 12, but so far Watts has averaged 12.2 points and 6.1 rebounds this season. He’ll continue to have more chances to elevate his performances down the stretch.