Big 12 Removes Glass Court Amid Texas Tech Injuries to Christian Anderson, LeJuan Watts
The Big 12 has removed the LED glass court amid injuries to several players, including Texas Tech players Christian Anderson and LeJuan Watts.
The conference will be transitioning to a hardwood court for the remainder of the tournament. The Big 12 has received much criticism from players and coaches over the conditions of the LED glass court, primarily that it is slippery.
Anderson left the Red Raiders' 75-53 loss to Iowa State early after suffering an apparent groin injury due to a slip and fall to the ground. He was not the first player to slip while playing on the LED glass court.
Thankfully, Anderson appears to be doing OK as Texas Tech awaits its fate in the NCAA tournament.
"I'm feeling good," Anderson said Thursday. "Obviously, the floor is a bit slippery, so I think I just misstepped or did a movement that caused me to slip and ended up in an unnatural position."
Watts, who led the Red Raiders with 12 points and seven rebounds, also left the game with an injury. The junior forward went down in pain and held his foot after an awkward landing.
“Let’s just do it on wood," Watts said.
Tech players weren't the only ones in the conference to have an issue with the LED glass court. Kansas State’s Taj Manning was open about the conditions of the court, which used advanced technology to display images on the floor..
“It’s pretty bad, to be honest,” Manning said.
“It’s slippery … It’s a bad floor, they shouldn’t bring it back, if you want my honest opinion … It’s just an eyesore, it’s constantly changing. With flashing different lights and all that. Nobody wants to play on that thing, just want the normal hardwood.”
On SportsCenter, Scott Van Pelt and Jon Sciambi discussed the controversial court.
"Now, you might recall what I had to say earlier. We said this whole thing extra and unnecessary, but as long as the court played like a normal court, I said fine. I will give the Big 12 credit for this, almost everyone said it was unnecessary and silly.
"And when it proved to be dangerous on top of all that with people slipping all over the place, rather than be stubborn and defiant, the Big 12's gonna eat it and they're gonna punt. That's the play. Own it and move on," Van Pelt said.
Sciambi also provided insight on the design of the LED court, revealing the glass floor was designed to have give.
"Throughout the tournament, I got the opportunity to talk to a number of coaches about the floor and what their take was on it. And for the most part, they said their players were not real happy playing on it.
"They noted the fact that the floor was especially slippery. It's interesting because the LED court is designed to have give. But what they experienced was that when they really had to dig in and make an explosive move, that is when the slips started to happen," Sciambi said.
The Big 12 is getting rid of the LED glass court 👀
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 13, 2026
(via @PeteThamel) pic.twitter.com/oR5C4lZQzF
The semifinals and the title game will be played on hardwood; however, the Red Raiders will not feature in either matchup as the squad was eliminated from the tournament Thursday.
Now, Tech awaits their seeding in March Madness, which will be revealed on Selection Sunday.
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Valentina Martinez is an On SI writer. She has in depth knowledge of the college sports community and has covered professional sports extensively. She is a graduate of Arizona State University and covered Sun Devil Football, Men's Basketball, Baseball, Women's Volleyball and Softball.