LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – While the No. 13 Texas Tech Red Raiders (19-7, 9-4 Big 12) prepare for Kansas State (11-15, 2-11), now led by interim coach Matthew Driscoll, Tech head basketball coach Grant McCasland addressed the media Friday afternoon- his first press conference since JT Toppin\u2019s season-ending ACL injury was announced. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can just tell you because of all the outpouring of support that JT\u2019s gotten from a lot of people, this impacts a lot of people, you know, and it\u2019s sad. But I honestly believe that it can make him stronger, and that\u2019s what I told our team and that\u2019s what I told our group, and I don\u2019t know how to explain it,\u201d McCasland said. \u201cI can only tell you I believe it with all my heart that there are no accidents. This has a purpose. And whatever the purpose is, it\u2019s hard to see in the moment. But because of JT\u2019s competitiveness, he will come back from this stronger and I believe it with all my heart, and I do believe our team can get better because of this.\u201d <\/p>\n
While Coach McCasland was obviously emotional while talking about Toppin\u2019s injury, he also reiterated that JT and the others will grow stronger from how they deal with the unexpected circumstances. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always improved, and I\u2019m excited to see what comes of this because the joy comes in the morning, and there\u2019s a lot of mourning, but there\u2019s also a lot of hope in this,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd even for JT, there\u2019s a lot of hope that he\u2019ll get better because of this, and I know our guys are going to honor JT and how they compete because of who they are and because of what JT means to us.\u201d <\/p>\n
With the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year, and this year\u2019s four-time \u201cBig 12 Player of the Week\u201d unable to play, McCasland says his younger players will now take on greater roles in the games that remain. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think you\u2019ll find that we include Jaylen Petty more, LeJuan more, everybody\u2019s going to touch the ball more and Jaylen has great experience. I think creating opportunities for Donovan Atwell is going to be important.\u201d <\/p>\n
With Toppin out for the season, McCasland expects to see point guard Christian Anderson to have a stronger presence, both on and off the court. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to be in attack mode. It\u2019s going to take everybody. Christian Anderson\u2019s going to be the leader of this group and he\u2019s going to have to continue to be. I think just the Christian\u2019s command of how all the pieces work; he\u2019s going to have to be more vocal. He\u2019s going to have to really be clear and more communicate more and really do a great job of orchestrating this even at a higher level and making sure that we all improve over the course of the game and every day. We\u2019re going to do it together. It\u2019s not going to be one guy. It\u2019s going to be \u2018how well can we do this thing together?\u2019… I do think that\u2019s where Christian\u2019s going to have to really have great command, because he\u2019ll be able to still do what he does best. It\u2019s just going to maybe take a little longer, and I think our competitiveness is going to be important and how we improve in that area.\u201d <\/p>\n
Coach McCasland says there have been other years in other programs where he\u2019s lost key players late in the season, and Toppin has a strong support system around him both from teammates and his family. <\/p>\n
Tip-off for Saturday\u2019s contest with Kansas State scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the United Supermarkets Arena. <\/p>\n
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