Texas Tech University Athletics
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: JT Toppin
January 25, 2025 | Men's Basketball
THERE'S A PLAY WITH TEXAS TECH UP 21 points and the second half just beginning that tells everything you need to know about what JT Toppin brings to the team. Toppin, the team's leading scorer, rebounder and shot blocker, hands the ball off to point guard Elijah Hawkins at the top of the key with 15 seconds left on the shot clock. The ball gets whipped to the corner by the team's bench and a 3-point shot goes up. Toppin is now at the free throw line surrounded by two Northern Colorado players. As the ball approaches the rim, Toppin immediately crashes toward the basket, battles through one of the players trying to box him out and leaps for the rebound. He knocks the ball loose from a third opponent trying to eliminate his presence and dives for the loose ball on the court, wrestling it away to secure his 12th rebound of the game. On the sideline, head coach Grant McCasland turns to the crowd and smiles. "He's playing the game with a lot of energy and effort," McCasland says. "JT is always working hard to make winning plays." In a game where he finishes with 15 rebounds and 11 points, it's an example of the positive impact he has made all season – that Texas Tech needs from its sophomore star as games continue to intensify.
"I've always played with a dog mentality," Toppin says. "Get to the ball however possible and be consistent in everything I do. I'm not going to let a single play go by without giving everything I have."
That style of play is how he had to make a name for himself when he first started playing the game in middle school. Hustling and playing every possession with passion and purpose. At the time, he couldn't make a shot unless he was right under the basket. His motor was always high though. Relentlessly pursuing the ball on defense and tracking down offensive rebounds that he could put back in from close range. It wasn't always as easy as he can make it look now. He was cut from his seventh-grade team. Made it in eighth grade but rarely played. Never gave up. "I just kept working and fell in love with the game," he says. "Basketball was hard for me to get good at. I had growth spurts and got tall, but nothing came easy. I could just finish. I couldn't shoot. Rebound and finish around the rim. That's all I could do. Just a bunch of layups."
Struggles getting the ball in the basket nowadays are a distant memory where he ranks third in the Big 12 by making 55.5 percent of his shots this season – coming into Sunday's matchup against Oklahoma State shooting 96-for-173, including even expanding his range by making five 3-pointers. "JT has always been a talented player and is such an unselfish teammate," McCasland says. "He can really pass the ball and makes the right decisions. His nose for winning and making the effort plays is always there. He has an urgency when the game is on the line to make a really tough play. He's willing to do anything from snatching loose balls to ripping the ball away from a bigger, more physical guy, in the most important moments of the game. It says a lot about his will to win." Toppin is currently the fourth most efficient player in the nation and leads Texas Tech with 16.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and six double-doubles. He ranks second in the Big 12 with 3.43 offensive rebounds per game and is third in the conference in scoring and rebounds.
"His energy carries throughout the team," Chance McMillian says. "Seeing him play hard, pushes me to play even harder. That energy flows. His rebounds are a momentum boost for us."
TOPPIN TOOK ALL OF 50 SECONDS to score his first points as a Red Raider. A dunk off an assist from Darrion Williams before a turnaround jump shot for his second basket in the season opener. He finished his first game wearing a Texas Tech uniform with 19 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots. A game later, he scored 25 points on 10-for-11 shooting and in his third game went off for 24 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Through three games, Toppin was 28-for-38 from the field and had already grabbed 27 rebounds. It didn't slow down in the next two games, recording 14 points and 11 rebounds against Arkansas-Pine Bluff to help secure a four-game winning streak at home to start the season and then going to Brooklyn and coming away with a career-high 18 rebounds to go along with 22 points against Saint Joseph's – a streak of three straight double-doubles.
"It's great having a guy like JT out there when I get into trouble on a play," Hawkins says. "He gets us all out of trouble. When we need scoring, we know we can go to JT. He always comes through for us. In crunch time, he's going to get the big rebound, block or score the big bucket. He makes my job easier, for sure."
His potential and production were felt immediately this season – the hype of a highly-touted transfer being realized. While it takes some players who move from one program to another some adjustment, Toppin made the transition from New Mexico to Texas Tech look seamless. His 12 offensive rebounds against Saint Joseph's put him in the program's record book for the first time just five games in, coming in as the second most offensive rebounds only behind 15 from Will Flemons in 1990. It also earned him Big 12 Newcomer of the Week. His 18 rebounds surpassed his previous career-high of 16 that he had twice as freshman in games against San Diego State and Fresno State. As a freshman at New Mexico, Toppin averaged 12.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. He finished the year with 12 double-doubles, recorded 23 double-figure scoring performances and scored a career-best 27 points in a game against Toledo - going 11-for-12 from the field and 5-of-5 at the free-throw line. Along with his production, he was also durable playing in all 36 games and helping the Lobos advance to the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
"I became better last season performing under pressure," Toppin says. "We had big crowds there at The Pit and played in a lot of good games. Definitely grew as a person and player last year."
Going from being cut from his seventh-grade team to earning Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year wasn't easy and didn't come overnight. It also didn't go unnoticed. A far cry from the anonymity he lived going into high school and even to a certain extent in his initial college recruitment despite playing for Team Trae Young and helping lead Faith Family Academy of Oak Cliff to a state championship and being named the Class 4A Player of the Year. He signed with the Lobos out of high school as a four-star recruit and continued playing his way into an abundance of options after his freshman season at New Mexico, including a path as a one-and-done to the NBA. Toppin entered the NCAA transfer portal and declared for the NBA Draft after being the top freshman in the nation by shooting 62.3 percent from the field and with his 12 double-doubles. ESPN ranked him as the No. 12 player available in the transfer portal and he put his skills on full display at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. Among 78 invited draft prospects, Toppin shined at the combine, prompting a line in the Albuquerque Journal to say he "might just be putting that return-to-college thing to rest" after recording a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in a game. Despite the success and attention-grabbing performance, Toppin listened to feedback and trusted that returning to college was his best option – making his official announcement to join the Texas Tech program on May 28, 2024, and becoming the sixth signee in the construction of this year's team.
"I can't wait to show Red Raider Nation the energy and hard work I bring to every game," said Toppin when he signed. "I look forward to getting to Lubbock and helping the team win."
IT WAS A WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON IN MID-DECEMBER and the Red Raiders were going through practice getting ready for their non-conference finale against Lamar. On one side of the court, the team is going through defensive drills. McCasland is animated, encouraging each player to get every detail right as the Big 12 fight approaches . On the other end, Toppin is going through drills with assistant coach Jeff Linder and Chris Nottingham. They are working on everything possible that Toppin needs to show he's capable of doing to return to play. Pick and rolls, boxing out, shooting drills - everything possible to be as fundamentally sound as possible and maintain conditioning. Toppin is focused and driven during all of it and looks like he's almost ready to get back on the other end of the court with his team.
"We were really just making sure he was staying engaged," Linder says. "More so mentally even more than physically during that time. We couldn't waste any time even though we knew he wouldn't be able to play in the next game. He still needed to keep getting better physically to get back on the court, but it was also a time where he could continue learning and growing as a player. We were working on screening angles and understanding coverages that he hasn't done a lot in the past. It has helped him getting those reps as he's gotten back into shape and on the floor. He has such a good natural feel for the game but we are always working on adding to it to make him even that much better."
In total, Toppin missed four games with a lower body injury – forced to sit on the sidelines against DePaul, Texas A&M, Oral Roberts and Lamar. The Red Raiders went 3-1 to close out non-conference play in those games, but the loss against the No. 22-ranked Aggies where they grabbed 18 offensive rebounds showed what the team was missing without him in the lineup. During the leadup to games, he'd occasionally get in with the team at practice for some drills, slowly reacclimating into rotations that were missing his 18.6 points and 11.0 rebounds per game production at the time. He looked sharp but didn't have the same bounce and would occasionally miss a close one that he normally makes. He'd give a wry smile and eye roll, then go back to working a drill hitting a pad held by Nottingham and finishing through contact.
"It was a terrible time," Topping says. "I hated watching my teammates battle without me. I wanted to be out there helping them. It tore me up."
On New Year's Eve, in his return to the court, Toppin scored a season-high 26 points and added 10 rebounds in the Big 12 opener against UCF after being out of action for a month. It was his fifth double-double of the season but also a loss for the Red Raiders in a rare home defeat. Now, through seven Big 12 games, he's averaging 15.1 points and 7.1 rebounds in conference play. Part of that dip in rebounding production came with him battling an illness where he lost 10 pounds after not being able to eat or drink for three days due to a sore throat. On the Utah road trip, which was a pair of wins, he had 11 points and four rebounds against the Utes. In Provo, he was limited to just five points and didn't have a rebound. He never quit battling through or playing though, giving the Red Raiders everything he could. Back home in Lubbock, he would provide 18 points and nine rebounds in an overtime loss to No. 3 Iowa State – a game where he played over 34 minutes and went 8-for-16 from the field. Still feeling the effects, he was held to six points and four rebounds at K-State in under 15 minutes. "I didn't feel good," Toppin says. "I was worn down. I feel good now though, just took some time to get back. I just had to eat and get my energy back."
Against Arizona last Saturday, Toppin recorded his sixth double-double of the season after going for 20 points and 16 rebounds. Six of those rebounds were on the offensive end and he finished the game shooting 7-for-14 from the field, 1-of-2 on 3-pointers and was 5-for-7 at the free-throw line. Texas Tech closed out the game on a 13-0 run for the 16-point win with Toppin scoring six of those points in the final minutes and having 13 points and nine rebounds in the second half. McCasland sat in front of the media in his postgame press conference following the win and made this assessment: "Y'all know, we're better team when he's healthy. It's not close. He hasn't been healthy for the majority of the season. He wants to play, he really does. He's competitive and loves to play. That's what I love about JT. He always wants to play. JT is a difference maker on this team. When he's right, he's a load and a game-changer for our team."
On Tuesday night in Cincinnati, Toppin went for 20 points and seven rebounds to boost him up to 35 games in double figures and nine with 20 or more points in his career. That all comes in only 50 career games where he has already recorded 681 points, 453 rebounds, 86 blocks, 50 steals and 18 double-doubles. Toppin carries himself in a casual-cool manner, but also with confidence and competitiveness. Up 42-38 at Cincinnati, there's a play where he is isolated just outside the paint. He takes four powerful dribbles while backing his opponent down, gives a hard fake to his left, spins around and swishes a left-handed hook shot. "My mindset is to kill on every play," he says. "Stay consistent and never back down from anyone or anything." Toppin backpedals to mid-court brimming with confidence after the shot as the team begins to pull away from the Bearcats to secure a 4-0 road record to begin Big 12 play for the first time in program history.
Despite his individual success, Toppin understands that making winning plays doesn't always mean he's the one putting the ball in the basket. While he's leading the team in scoring, Williams (15.0) and McMillian (15.0) are 10th in the Big 12 in scoring average also. Christian Anderson is adding 9.5 points per game, including 10.1 in conference games, and the team is also getting over nine points per game from Kevin Overton and Hawkins. "My mentality is to get teams to double me so I can pass out to my teammates," Toppin says. "They can all hit shots. I can put pressure on the rim and they hit shots. It makes us dangerous." Texas Tech leads the Big 12 in effective field goal percentage and is second in the conference by shooting 49.4 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from 3-point range. McMillian is making 2.33 shots from deep per game and leads the conference in 3-point percentage. Anderson is coming off a game at Cincinnati where he made four 3-pointers after also going 4-for-4 against Iowa State and Overton and McMillian each had three in Ohio where Tech finished with 12 3s for the 10th game this season with 10 or more 3s. Toppin was 1-for-2 from beyond the arc in the game, forcing defenses to respect his presence beyond just around the rim and further showcasing the team's versatility. "This team's depth is going to be our strength," McCasland says. "It's in a lot of different areas. We've got guys that can literally score 20 points who aren't starting in the Big 12." Toppin embraces the team-first approach while also making his mark to impact winning. He's led the team in scoring in seven games and in rebounding in 10 of the 14 games he's played.
"We just have to play for each other," Toppin says. "There's no one on this team that is out there worrying about individual things. It's about the team. You can see that in how we play. We know what our strengths are and what they're not. I really like how this team is about playing the game the right way and winning. That's all any of us care about."
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