LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Fresh off a full week of rest, the No. 11 Texas Tech Red Raiders (16-4, 6-1 Big 12) are now heading to Orlando, Fla. ready to pick up where they left off: with a five-game winning streak.
“It’s been a good week of rest for our team. It couldn’t have come at a better time for us,” said Tech head basketball coach Grant McCasland. “We needed it just for the minutes that some of these guys are playing, just needed the extra time to get better, and also to kind of start acclimating these guys that haven’t played a ton.”
Red Raider forward JT Toppin is coming off two straight weeks of being named the “Big 12 Player of the Week” and has averaged 22.1 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. Point guard Christian Anderson has 19.8 points per game and has made 69 three-point shots.
The UCF Knights also currently hold a 16-4 record but are 5-3 in Big 12 play. Last Saturday, they won at Colorado 95-86 and then came back to beat Arizona State 79-76 at home on Tuesday.
“They’re physical. I mean, if there’s one thing that jumps out on the page to me, is just how physical they are,” McCasland said. “They’re the number one defensive rebounding team in our league. We were No.1 until we played Houston, and I just think they’re physical and they can score and they’ve got a lot of guys that can put you on your heels.”
McCasland said his team was able to use this extra time off to not only rest but provide reps to players especially if they haven’t had as much playing time.
“We took a couple days off intentionally and did some individual work with guys on Monday, and then Tuesday we had a practice that was a majority of the guys that don’t play a ton so that we could start to push this thing in the direction and then Wednesday we did more individual work and then today really did a lot of teamwork, but it’s been a good ramp for the guys that haven’t played much because we’ve been able to put them in a pretty consistent amount of practice.”
The Red Raiders and Knights tip off 11 a.m. CT at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando. From there, they return home to prepare for an ESPN “Big Monday” matchup with the Kansas Jayhawks at the United Supermarkets Arena.
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