There’s no true, simple, straightforward way to replace a player like JT Toppin. Without focusing on all of the entirety of what Toppin provides to Texas Tech as a leader for the Red Raiders, looking just at his production on the court and it’s clear that he’s doing a ton to elevate the Texas Tech men’s basketball program.
Winning is just flat out easier when you have a star player who is one of the best athletes in the country and is averaging 21.8 points per game and 10.8 rebounds per game. Unfortunately, with a season-ending injury, it’s hard to find someone to step up and fill that sort of void.
But Grant McCasland has a few ideas. And it isn’t revolving around just one specific player on Texas Tech’s roster. The head coach of the Red Raiders is approaching this from a holistic, full team sort of model to keep this offense rolling right along.
Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland seemingly has a simple plan to keep the Red Raiders rolling while JT Toppin focuses on recovery
“It’s not just JT and Chris, which has been such a dynamic duo,” McCasland said of his team during a recent press conference as the Red Raiders get set to meet up with the Cincinnati Bearcats. “It’s not like you replace JT with one.”
And that’s accurate, but if you’re not replacing him with just one athlete, then what are you doing?
“Now, it’s you get LeJuan back involved in more actions and you create advantages with Marial and Luke and that involves the next action and makes us difficult to defend,” Texas Tech’s head coach continued.
Losing the Red Raiders’ top star truly stings, especially with the fact that the Red Raiders have been so good this season. But that doesn’t mean this season can’t still be special. Similarly, just because Toppin isn’t on the court doesn’t mean that the Red Raiders won’t score points.
“As long as we continue to share the ball and make a simple play and nobody feels like they have to be a hero, I feel like our offense is difficult to defend,” McCasland said.