J.T. Toppin’s dominance fuels Texas Tech to home victory

Red Raiders use dominant all-around performance to down Utes, remain unbeaten at home

Texas Tech Red Raiders forward JT Toppin (15) shoots against Utah Utes forward Keanu Dawes (8) in the first half at United Supermarkets Arena. | Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images

Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland wanted his team to respond after a huge Big 12 Road win on Saturday. His team did just that Wednesday night with a dominant 88-74 victory over Utah.

The Red Raiders continue to use an old fashioned inside-out game, drilling 13 threes at a near 42% rate. That allowed McCasland's team to remain unbeaten with a 9-0 record at home.

Toppin's World

Texas Tech superstar forward J.T. Toppin wanted to put on a show for the fans in attendance at the United Supermarkets Arena.

There is no question he did just that by stuffing the stat sheet across the board on a night when the school was giving away his jersey to the first 1,000 students who entered the arena, including 20 signed by the man himself.

Tomorrow night 👀⏳

First 1,000 students get a @j1izzle replica jersey. 20 random ones are signed. pic.twitter.com/TOjPTnKLX7

— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) January 13, 2026

Toppin finished the game with 31 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, five blocks, and one steal on 14-of-23 shooting from the field along with a 3-of-4 mark from three.

Dyanmic Duo

The Red Raiders put on a show from start to finish against Utah as both Toppin and Christian Anderson recorded double-doubles.

They combine to average exactly 40 points per game and opponents are challenged to stop an old fashioned ball screen offense predicated on finding mismatches and open space.

There are some nights McCasland wants to get even more creative by implementing a double ball screen "77 Drag" where Anderson is able to use a second screener that frees up Toppin and others to find easy paint touches, or free up a man on the perimeter if the paint look isn't there.

While each of them are becoming hard to stop offensively, McCasland believes his dynamite combo are defending at a high level, which is bad news for the Big 12 teams on the schedule.

"I've been asked if I've coached a better duo than Christian and JT," McCasland said during the postgame press conference. "What I'll tell you is that I'm more thrilled with how they're become the anchor of how we're defending people. JT with five blocks and Christian with two.

"His integrity of how he's guarding the ball and moving his feet right now is just tremendous. He's seeing it and flowing to the ball the right way. I know everyone wants to talk about what they're doing offensively, but to me, the way JT is hedging and moving and the way those two guys are competing defensively is the difference in our team. They're competing and playing the right way."

What was the difference?

Texas Tech made sure Utah never felt too comfortable on the road despite making 12-of-25 three point attempts on the night. The Red Raiders used a frenetic pace to notch plenty of second chance opportunities and forcing 13 turnovers to stretch a slim lead early in the second half to a double-digit deficit with ease.

"It wasn't perfect by any stretch and we can play better," McCasland said. "But give Utah credit. Their pace is difficult to defend. We had a hard time guarding them in stretches but for the majority of the game for us to offensive rebound like we did and have a solid night defensive rebounding to limit their second attempts was the difference in the game."

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