Grant McCasland Emphasizes Key Focus for Texas Tech Before Big 12 Tournament
The Texas Tech Red Raiders will have to wait till Thursday to lace them up. The Red Raiders enter the 2026 Big 12 Tournament as the No. 4 seed after their tough loss on Saturday to the BYU Cougars.
A win was the difference between the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds; nevertheless, the Red Raiders earned a two-game bye and will face either the Iowa State Cyclones or the Arizona State Sun Devils.
In the meantime, Texas Tech will be patiently waiting for Thursday. While they wait, head coach Grant McCasland spoke to the media on Tuesday. While speaking to the media, McCasland touched on several topics, including what the team is emphasizing ahead of its quarterfinal game.
McCasland emphasized the importance of rest ahead of their matchup on Wednesday.
"We got a couple of days, and this league is so grueling that every night you get an opportunity to play against one of the best teams in the country. This year, our league has the best winning percentage against all the other major leagues. It just shows you how difficult it can be every night, so we needed a couple of days. More than anything, try to fine-tune how we want to move forward and what our holes are, and it gave us time as a staff to evaluate...
“We feel like we’ve got some things want to adjust, not just rest. I think it’s important for our players to rest, but for our staff to kind of lean into some things that can make us a lot better with this run we’ve got coming up.”
#TexasTech head coach Grant McCasland on how important rest will be for the team prior to their game at 11:30 a.m. Thursday:
— Cory Whitman (@CoryWhitmanDT) March 10, 2026
“We feel like we’ve got some things want to adjust, not just rest. I think it’s important for our players to rest, but for our staff to kind of lean into… pic.twitter.com/vcQq475xjU
Rest could be the best thing for the Red Raiders. They finished the regular season on a two-game losing streak, including a tough loss to the BYU Cougars.
McCasland was not happy with how things unfolded at the end of the season, especially against BYU.
“The tale of two halves where we didn’t defensive rebound well enough," McCasland said. "When you make 12 threes in the first half, you would expect to have a better first advantage than whatever it was. We actually guarded them in a decent way in the first half, especially making them miss the first time. Our physicality was right. But you’re only up 8 and they were really crushing us on the glass, and it continued in the second half. We needed to get a big stop. I thought we had some lapses in transition, but we just really struggled to rebound and obviously the paint was a big deal. They just didn’t have that much resistance down there on 2s. Really just struggled around the basket."
Can Texas Tech Overcome Its Late-Season Challenges?
Nonetheless, their regular season was excellent. The Red Raiders had a strong season overall, finishing with a 22-9 record, including 12-6 in Big 12 play.
The late-season slide was driven by defensive rebounding struggles and a significant lack of paint presence, particularly after standout junior forward JT Toppin suffered a season-ending injury with five games remaining.
While that was the case, others have stepped up in the process, like Christian Anderson and Donovan Atwell. Those two have established themselves as the best players towards the end of the season and will look to carry the load in the postseason.
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Ricardo Sandoval is a Sports Writer for On SI based in Los Angeles, CA. Ricardo has been writing about a wide range of sports and was also an Associate Editor for Dodgers Nation. Ricardo was also a Contributing Sports Writer for Newsweek's Sports Section specializing in NBA, NFL and College coverage. He is a contributor for Texas Tech On SI.