Texas Tech Star JT Toppin Secures First Team All American Honors

Red Raiders’ star adds All-American to his decorated college career

Texas Tech's JT Toppin dribbles against Colorado defender Bangot Dak during a Big 12 Conference men's basketball game, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in United Supermarkets Arena. | Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Texas Tech Red Raiders star forward JT Toppin has been named first-team All-American. 

It was announced on Tuesday. 

JT Toppin. @AP All-America First Team 😤 pic.twitter.com/WyYjGmBi0N

— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) March 17, 2026

Toppin joins four other elite college basketball players who have certainly made a name for themselves. The star junior forward joins Duke forward Cameron Boozer, BYU star AJ Dybantsa, Darius Acuff Jr. of Arkansas and Yaxel Lendeborg of Michigan. 

🚨 AP ALL-AMERICAN FIRST-TEAM 🚨

🏀 Cameron Boozer
🏀 AJ Dybantsa
🏀 Darius Acuff
🏀 Yaxel Lendeborg
🏀 JT Toppin pic.twitter.com/uaW77uNzsX

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 17, 2026

It's been quite the season for the Dallas, Texas native. In the season, he's put up stellar numbers, averaging 21.8 points per game (11th in the country), 10.8 rebounds (seventh in the country), 2.1 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.4 steals while shooting 54.8 percent from the field in 25 games and 34.8 minutes of action. 

Toppin earned a first-team All-American nod despite missing the last few weeks of the season. He suffered a torn ACL in mid-February and will not be available for the NCAA Tournament. At the time of his injury, Toppin was leading the nation with 234 made field goals. 

Texas Tech earned the No. 5 seed in the Midwest region and will take on the red-hot Akron Zips. The Red Raiders will have to do so without their Wooden Award Top 20, Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Late-Season selection and four-time Big 12 Player of the Week. 

Toppin's absence is a big loss for the Red Raiders, and no one realizes that more than head coach Grant McCasland. 

After losing Toppin for the rest of the season, McCasland spoke on what makes the junior forward so special. 

"JT Toppin is genuine. He's an unbelievable competitor. He's real," McCasland said following the injury. "You know how much JT loves our team and how hard he competed and how much he cared about that group. To understand that this is difficult and JT has a long road, to watch him weep and see how much this meant to him is hard.

"I'm excited to see what comes of this, because the joy comes in the morning," McCasland continued. "There's also a lot of hope in this, and even for JT there's a lot of hope that he'll get better because of this."

Last season, Toppin was named a third-team All-American. This season, he earned one of the highest honors the sport could offer. 

Toppin isn't the only member of the Red Raiders to be named to one of the three teams. Star sophomore guard Christian Anderson was named third-team All-American after his incredible season. 

Anderson has been stellar all season long, and especially after Toppin went down with his injury. In the season, Anderson averaged 18.9 points per game, 3.6 rebounds, 7.6 assists per game (ranking third in the country) and 1.3 steals. 

The Atlanta native was named to the All-Big 12 first team. 

When Does Texas Tech Play Akron in March Madness?

The Red Raiders will have their hands full without Toppin once their postseason commences on Friday as they get set to take on Akron. As of Tuesday, they are only -8.5 point favorites. Game time is set for 11:40 am CT.

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