What Texas Tech's Grant McCasland said after beating Arizona State in double overtime
Arizona State has had some heartbreaking losses in the Big 12 this season, and Wednesday night's loss at Texas Tech tops the list.
The Sun Devils put on an impressive offensive display, shooting 40-of-72 from the field and 13-of-27 from the 3-point line, but it wasn't enough to beat No. 12 Texas Tech. The Red Raiders held off ASU 111-106 in double overtime in one of the best games of the 2024-25 college basketball season.
Senior guards Adam Miller and BJ Freeman, who were both suspended for Arizona State's loss at Oklahoma State, led the Sun Devils with 22 and 21 points, respectively. Freshman Amier Ali came off the bench to score 18 points and grab 7 rebounds.
With ASU freshman Jayden Quaintance out with an ankle injury, JT Toppin put on a show for Texas Tech, scoring 41 points and pulling down 15 rebounds. He was 17-of-22 from the field and added 3 steals.
Here's what Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland had to say after the game.
McCasland On Arizona State's Game Plan
"What a great college basketball game. The atmosphere, as always, I think is the difference in these wins. Just the energy in the building to get stops when you're playing against an Arizona State team and coach Hurley ... man is that guy good at getting his team to scrap and fight and believe when they've had a hard season. Just so impressed with their guard's ability to score."
"They didn't have Quaintance going into the game, and I thought it kind of gave them more spacing and more scoring on the perimeter. It took away a little bit of the physicality and the interior defense, but it gave him a a scoring punch that was really hard to deal with. We made some defensive miscues in the first half that allowed them to get going and we were careless with some turnovers that I think allowed them to play in transition. But give them credit because I thought their shot-making was tremendous."
"I just loved our team's fight. To find a way and to see Kerwin Walton out there getting stops to finish the game was like one of the most beautiful things I've seen. It was awesome. A lot of people obviously contributed to this but to see K-Walton out there playing great defense to win the game I think really says a lot about him and a lot about our program and how we're going to fight and find ways to win."
McCasland On JT Toppin's Huge Game
"They were smaller, so just how do you take advantage of it? We encouraged our team going into the game — let's just not shoot any shots going away from the rim. And that's where JT got going. I just thought he was putting his feet in the paint and scoring at the basket. And so was Darrion Williams. But JT Toppin going right to the basket was 1A in what we wanted to do. He was tremendous to start this game."
"He's been working. I mean he's finally healthy and he's finally able to practice and he's finally able to put in the individual work. And he's not shy about work. He'll work man. That dude will be in the gym and he'll spend time doing it. I've been so impressed with his resilience, with his fight to keep getting better even though he's kind of tweaked his ankles. He's just scratching what he's capable of, and I say that with a lot of confidence."
McCasland On The Big 12's Depth
"We didn't sign up for easy. We love it this way. This is way we want it to be. I mean let's play against a team that makes all kind of crazy shots and let's see what kind of grit we have to win. That's what I want this to be about. I don't want anybody to be injured when we play them. I want everybody to be healthy and we want everybody's best shot, and that's what makes this sport fun honestly.
"And if you don't enjoy that then you're playing in the wrong league. And that's what I love about the Big 12. That's why I love playing in it. That's why I love coaching in it. Because of guys like coach Hurley who are some of the best coaches and make your team better. Because the point of this is to compete against the best to see if you can be the best."
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Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.