{"id":196332,"date":"2026-03-09T04:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T04:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/196332\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T04:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T04:29:08","slug":"mccasland-searching-for-more-grit-physicality-after-byu-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/196332\/","title":{"rendered":"McCasland Searching for More Grit, Physicality after BYU Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

The nightmare continues for the Texas Tech men\u2019s basketball team as they end the 2025-2026 regular season on a 2-game losing streak after dropping to the BYU Cougars 82-76. Head Coach Grant McCasland<\/a> expressed his thoughts on the loss (via Texas Tech Sports Network\/Learfield).<\/p>\n

The Tale of 2 Halves<\/p>\n

Despite the slow start, the Red Raiders held their own with dynamic scoring in the first half as they hit 12 from behind the arc. Even though they would finish with one made 3-pointer shy of the school record once more, it was Jekyll and Hyde from the get-go with the second half stats well in BYU\u2019s favor such as 48-14 points in the paint, 20-9 in 2nd shot opportunities, 13-3 points off turnovers, and simply outscoring the Red Raiders 44-30.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tale of two halves where we didn\u2019t defensive rebound well enough. 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\u2019re 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\u2019t have that much resistance down there on 2s. Really just struggled around the basket.<\/p>\n

They switched a lot. They gave us a little bit of problems at times. And probably settled at times. Got a little later in the clock and had to shoot some harder shots than we needed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learning From the Loss Going Into The Post-Season<\/p>\n

Texas Tech will wind up finishing 4th in the Big 12 upon their arrival to Kansas City on Tuesday. In spite of the result, McCasland did feel there was a silver lining at times in tonight\u2019s game in the sense of having a bounce back effort after the home finale loss to TCU.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought this game on the road requires you to really have a competitive spirit together. What I look for in these games is when things kind of start to go against us, do we have a way that we wonder how it\u2019s going to happen? It just looked like a few times with a few guys still looking around like \u2018how is this going to happen?\u2019 instead of competing together in a way that believes it\u2019s going to happen. Really it\u2019s just the response of getting down, and having a little more collective grit. From a team standpoint, we\u2019ve got to find a way to have more physicality whether it\u2019d just be getting the ball to the paint, or whether it\u2019d just be defensive fight when shots are missed, creating more area so that we can grab the ball. We\u2019re just getting caved in. And we\u2019re having a hard tine getting the ball to the paint. We\u2019ll have to make some threes. But when 35 of your 58 attempts, you\u2019re only getting to the free throw line 8 times, and they were getting there 19 times. We got to find a way to get more paint touches. <\/p>\n

But this team will get there. WE got a week to prepare, a couple days to get ready for Thursday. And we need some time to do it. I\u2019m excited about it I really am. I told the guys \u2018lets get home and look thus one in the eye and figure out a way to create a little more advantage for our team on offense, and have a little more fight to us on rebounding and we\u2019re right where we need to be.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaning Into the Double Bye<\/p>\n

Sure, the regular season ended on worse terms than anticipated, it\u2019s by no means the end considering Texas Tech has earned the right to start play in Kansas City on Thursday. It\u2019s definitely the conversation McCasland wants his team leaning into.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo question. And just collectively continuing to find those guys that really do want to play all the way to the end from a fight standpoint, and aren\u2019t going to look and see it can work out. We had a really tough second half for that stretch where we lost our way. Great environment as you know. It really was juiced in this building. Give them credit. They haven\u2019t been winning a ton of games, but their building was completely full. and they had everybody in here believing they can win a game. That\u2019s what life on the road is, and I still believe in our team, and I know we can figure this out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Join the conversation with other Red Raiders on the\u00a0Inside The Double T<\/a>\u00a0forum.<\/p>\n

Subscribe today<\/a>\u00a0to get the most in-depth Texas Tech sports and recruiting coverage.<\/p>\n

Follow us on X:\u00a0@RedRaiderSports<\/a><\/p>\n

Like and follow us on Instagram\u00a0@rrs_rivals<\/a>\u00a0& like us on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n