As Grant McCasland and the Texas Tech Red Raiders continue to try to figure out what life is like without having JT Toppin on the court, there’s obviously going to be a ton of concern and worry over how the Red Raiders will replace their leading scorer and rebounder.
There’s obviously going to be a ton of folks fixating on how Texas Tech replaced Toppin from a productivity standpoint, and that makes a ton of sense! But that’s not what McCasland himself seems to be focused on.
As the No. 16 Red Raiders navigate the final four games on their regular season schedule, get set to enter the Big 12 tournament, and then try to secure a solid spot in the NCAA Tournament, the Red Raiders will be leaning more heavily on Anderson and the leadership that he provides beyond just scoring and assists and the damage he can do on the stat sheet.
Grant McCasland reveals the biggest challenge for Christian Anderson as the Texas Tech Red Raiders prepare for Cincinnati
“The biggest thing for Christian is how well he can communicate to those guys that are going to get more minutes and don’t let any negative play impact them,” McCasland explained during a recent press conference ahead of Texas Tech’s home game vs. Cincinnati. “That’s kind of the hard part of this, you get into games and some guys are going to be playing larger roles and they may make some mistakes.”
The leadership element here is a huge thing and it’s going to be fascinating to see what Anderson does to continue to elevate the play of everyone around him, even when mistakes are being made.
“And so, my challenge to Chris isn’t just necessary to tell people what to do, but how do you pick people up when they aren’t making the right play and how do we communicate where we don’t worry about the mistake,” McCasland continued.
Ultimately, it’s all about helping the Red Raiders improve as a collective unit.
“We need to figure out how to get better and let’s be a team that learns and grows,” Texas Tech’s head coach noted.