Tag: Texas Tech Red Raiders

Mountain West Freshman of the Year JT Toppin to transfer to Texas Tech

Former New Mexico freshman JT Toppin has withdrawn from the 2024 NBA draft and will transfer to Texas Tech.

Former New Mexico freshman JT Toppin has withdrawn from the 2024 NBA draft and will transfer to Texas Tech University, the program announced on Tuesday.

Toppin declared for the draft last month while maintaining his remaining college eligibility. He also entered the transfer portal on April 30 after one season with the Lobos and was the fifth-ranked power forward on the market, according to 247Sports.

The 6-foot-8 forward participated in the draft combine in Chicago, Illinois, averaging 10.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, one assist and one steal in two scrimmage games. He also worked out with the Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs.

Toppin was named the Mountain West Freshman of the Year after averaging 12.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 1.1 assists on 62.3% shooting from the field. He led all freshmen in the country in field-goal percentage and double-doubles (12).

The four-star prospect chose Texas Tech over programs like Kansas State and Texas, among others. The team also adds Elijah Hawkins (Minnesota), Fede Federiko (Pitt) and Kevin Overton (Drake) via the transfer portal for next season.

The Red Raiders finished third in the Big 12 this past season under first-year head coach Grant McCasland with a 23-11 record. They lost in the first round to NC State.

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Texas Tech basketball adds standout freshman transfer JT Toppin via the transfer portal

Another big addition for Grant McCasland and the Red Raiders.

On Tuesday the Texas Tech Red Raiders men’s basketball team added another impact transfer to the 2024-25 roster. Former New Mexico Lobos power forward announced that he will head a little east to Lubbock, Texas. JT Toppin was listed as a four-star transfer after averaging nearly a double-double last season.

Toppin joins a backcourt that also added Pittsburgh Panthers power forward Fede Federiko back in March. The freshman forward averaged 12.4 points per game to go along with 9.1 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game. He scored a career high 27 points against Toledo in November and recording 12 double-doubles. In 36 games, Toppin scored in double digits 23 times and pulled down double-digit rebounds in 17 games. Toppin set a career-high in total rebounds with 16 twice.

This acquisition by head coach Grant McCasland and the staff will give them a presence around the rim. Something that seemed to be lacking at times last season.

This addition gives Tech four incoming transfers to replace the four outgoing players from the latest transfer cycle. Toppin joins the aforementioned Federiko to go along with former Minnesota point man Elijah Hawkins and Drake guard Kevin Overton.

Big 12 basketball transfer portal rankings per 247Sports

Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
  1. West Virginia Mountaineers (7 commits)
  2. Kansas Jayhawks (4 commits)
  3. Texas Tech Red Raiders (4 commits)
  4. Baylor Bears (3 commits)
  5. Kansas State Wildcats (6 commits)
  6. Cincinnati Bearcats (3 commits)
  7. TCU Horned Frogs (6 commits)
  8. Arizona Wildcats (3 commits)
  9. UCF Knights (5 commits)
  10. Iowa State Cyclones (4 commits)
  11. Arizona State Sun Devils (5 commits)
  12. Oklahoma State Cowboys (7 commits)
  13. Utah Utes (5 commits)
  14. Houston Cougars (1 commit)
  15. Colorado Buffaloes (3 commits)
  16. BYU Cougars (1 commit)

Texas Tech adds four-star point guard to 2024-25 men’s basketball roster

Tech adds four-star point guard to 2024-25 men’s basketball roster.

Another huge win for head coach Grant McCasland and the Texas Tech Red Raiders happened on Tuesday. The team announced they have signed four-star point guard Christian Anderson Jr. The No. 10 point guard of the 2024 recruiting class recently decommitted from the Michigan Wolverines in late March.

Anderson becomes only the second high school recruit to join the Red Raiders. Leon Horner of Dynamic Prep in Dallas, Texas, was the other. The team has also added three transfers including former Minnesota point guard Elijah Hawkins, former Drake shooting guard Kevin Overton, and former Pittsburgh power forward Fede Federiko.

McCasland and the Red Raiders are coming off a 23-11 season, in which they finished fourth in the conference standings with a 11-7 Big 12 record. They were bounced in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament by the Final Four-bound North Carolina State Wolfpack.

It is important for the team to load up in a loaded conference that welcomes perennial NCAA Tournament contending Arizona Wildcats to an already loaded Big 12 men’s basketball field.

The Red Raiders will participate in the 2024 Legends Classic with the Syracuse Orange, Texas Longhorns, and Saint Joseph’s Hawks in Brooklyn, New York. The event will take place on Nov. 21 and Nov. 22.

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Texas Tech, Grant McCasland lands commitment from Minnesota transfer

Texas Tech has found their point man for 2024-25.

The Texas Tech Red Raiders men’s basketball team landed their third transfer commitment of the 2024-25 cycle on Tuesday. Former Minnesota Golden Gophers point guard Elijah Hawkins committed to play for Grant McCasland in the upcoming season.

Hawkins is coming off his best season from an assist standpoint in his third season of collegiate basketball. He spent the first two seasons of his basketball career with Howard before transferring to Minnesota ahead of the 2023-24 season. Hawkins averaged 9.5 points, 7.5 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. He made 33 starts for a Golden Gophers team that finished 19-15 and 9-11 in conference play.

His transfer will help fill the void left by Pop Isaacs, who recently announced that he would be heading to Creighton. Isaacs was a better scored but we give the edge to Hawkins in this swap for his ability to facilitate the offense.

Hawkins joins a transfer class that includes former Drake shooting guard Kevin Overton and Pitt forward Fede Federiko. While Issacs was a premier scorer for the Red Raiders this past season, don’t sleep on Hawkins who has shown that he has range.

Hawkins converted 36.4% of his shot attempts from beyond the arc last season and shot 39.3% from the floor overall. McCasland still has plenty of work to do in building his roster for next season.

Texas Tech point guard commits to Creighton in transfer portal

Texas Tech point guard Pop Isaacs committed to Greg McDermott and the Creighton Blue Jays out of the NCAA transfer portal.

The Creighton Blue Jays have been one of the best teams in all of college basketball the past two years. However, after falling to Tennessee in the Sweet 16 last month, concern mounted that coach Greg McDermott would have a hard time keeping his core together for another go-round.

Baylor Scheierman is out of eligibility and hoping to hear his name called in the 2024 NBA draft, and right before the deadline to declare we learned shooting guard Trey Alexander won’t be returning to Omaha either, clearing two big spots in Creighton’s backcourt.

McDermott went to work immediately filling one of those spots, securing a commitment in the transfer portal from Pop Isaacs, a rising junior who averaged 15.8 points, 3.5 assists, and 3.2 rebounds last year as a sophomore at Texas Tech in the Big 12.

Isaacs will pair with returnee Steven Ashworth and fellow transfer portal addition Jamiya Neal (Arizona State) to help keep this Blue Jays team near the top of the Big East standings alongside back-to-back champion UConn and Marquette.

The big question now is if Ryan Kalkbrenner will be back down low for Creighton. If so, this team will once again be among the best in the Big East and should routinely find themselves ranked inside the top 15 as they look to get to a Final Four or beyond in 2025.

‘Oh she is a blessing’: Patty Gasso on being able to turn to Riley Ludlam at catcher

One of the unsung heroes for Oklahoma this year has been the play of transfer, Riley Ludlam.

The Oklahoma Sooners have been without one of their captains for some time now. [autotag]Kinzie Hansen[/autotag] hasn’t played a full series since the Sooners played the [autotag]Iowa State Cyclones[/autotag] as she deals with a knee injury.

She’s only played two games since then. It’s been huge for Oklahoma that they can turn to someone with a lot of experience like [autotag]Riley Ludlam[/autotag]. Ludlam has started each of the last six games at catcher. Since replacing Hansen in the lineup in the opener against Texas Tech, she has just one hit, a home run, but she’s also walked 12 times and scored five runs.

“Oh she is a blessing,” Patty Gasso said of Ludlam. “We had a couple of catchers leave us unexpectedly and we went scrambling because a lot of catchers were already pulled in a lot of directions or universities. It was just a blessing for her and me to find each other. When I called her, she didn’t believe it was me. It took me a while to get her to understand that I am the coach at Oklahoma, and she came down for a visit. She was wonderful, her family was wonderful, and I knew I wanted her here.”

Ludlam had already proven to be a fantastic addition, even in a reserve role. But with Hansen out of the lineup, she’s become even more valuable. Her effectiveness at and behind the plate will allow the Sooners to be patient with Hansen’s recovery as the season goes along.

Ludlam is just one of many Sooners who aren’t talked about enough but are playing a big role right now.

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After massive sweep of No. 18 TCU, OU baseball lands in D1Baseball’s top 25 at No. 17

Oklahoma lands in D1Baseball’s Top 25 for the first time this season after sweeping No.18 TCU.

This OU baseball team has been playing some inspired baseball recently. The Sooners have now reeled off back-to-back conference sweeps to start the 2024 conference schedule.

Despite a midweek loss to their Bedlam rivals Oklahoma State, the Sooners went 4-1 last week. Their conquest of the TCU Horned Frogs in Fort Worth raised plenty of eyebrows and was more than enough for the Sooners to go from unranked to No. 17 in the latest D1Baseball Top 25.

TCU was No. 12 in the country when the Sooners played this weekend, and now they are 18th, directly behind the Sooners. With Oklahoma’s inclusion into the mix, the Big 12 has two teams in the top 25. Texas and Texas Tech both fell out in this latest update after each team lost two games last week.

At the top, Arkansas remains the nation’s number-one team. Oregon State is behind them, followed by perennial powerhouse Vanderbilt at three—Clemson, LSU, and Florida slot in at four, five, and six. Texas A&M, Tennessee, Duke, and ECU round out the top 10.

The Sooners also were ranked 14th by Baseball America and 18th by Perfect Game USA.

After four straight wins against teams from the state of Texas, Oklahoma will look to keep it going on Tuesday at L. Dale Mitchell Park for a midweek matchup vs. No. 15 Dallas Baptist on Tuesday night. Dallas Baptist beat Oklahoma earlier this season, 11-7, when the two met in Dallas for a midweek affair.

 

‘We’re going to have to be pretty pinpointed’: Sooners pitchers have to be sharp vs. Texas Tech

Sooners will face one of the best offenses in the country this weekend and it’ll be no walk in the park for their pitchers.

The Oklahoma Sooners (24-1) returned to their spot as the consensus No. 1 team after splitting the rankings with Texas last week. This weekend they go on the road for the first time this month to face one of the better teams in the country.

The [autotag]Texas Tech Red Raiders[/autotag] are 21-5 and 6-1 at home this season. They are receiving votes but are just outside the top 25. While every game presents challenges, this one is going to be tough for Oklahoma and, specifically, its pitching staff.

The Red Raiders have scored 190 runs, which averages to just over seven runs a game. They’re third in the Big 12 in runs and home runs, behind Oklahoma and Texas. For comparison, Oklahoma averages 8.5 runs per game.

Patty Gasso was asked about the challenge they’ll face this weekend.

“Any team we play that has a bat in their hand is going to be a challenge for us, and that’s the way we’ll look at it,” Gasso said. “We’re going to have to be pretty pinpointed. We’re not going to try to outhit them. We’re just going to be us. Trusting that will be good enough.”

Typically, Oklahoma just being itself has been good enough. In the one loss this year, the Sooners weren’t themselves and it showed. This is when we will find out what this pitching staff is made of and which pitchers start to separate themselves.

There is no doubt these are measuring-stick games, and it’s going to be must-see television this weekend.

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Florida’s stellar week, Vandy defends at Watersound among highlights from last week of college golf

It was a stellar week.

The best college golf week of the spring thus far has come and gone.

Most of the top men’s and women’s teams were in action from across the country, and there were multiple tournaments with loaded fields from Hawaii to Florida and everywhere in between.

Teams continue to jockey for position to get into NCAA Regional play, with some men’s teams having work to do to even make the postseason because of the .500 rule. Meanwhile, plenty of individuals are making strong cases as to why they should win the Haskins or Annika Awards.

All in all, it was a stellar week.

MORE: College golf practice facilities

Here’s what you need to know from the past week of college golf.

Texas Tech hands Oregon baseball its first loss of the season

Oregon’s rally comes up short and the Ducks suffer their first loss of the baseball season to Texas Tech 11-7.

Seven runs will usually be enough to come out on top of a baseball game, but in the last day of the Shriners Children’s College Baseball Showdown, that offensive output for the Ducks wasn’t against Texas Tech.

The Red Raiders handed Oregon its first loss of the year with an 11-7 victory. The Ducks are now 2-1 as they come home to host Lafayette for a four-game series with a doubleheader next Saturday.

It was an uphill battle for Oregon nearly the entire game. The Ducks found themselves down 6-0 after two innings. Starter Turner Spoljarik just didn’t have it on this day. He went just 1 1/3 innings, giving up five runs on four hits.

The big blow of the inning came off of freshman reliever Toby Twist as he was greeting rather rudely with a three-run home run from Austin Green. After that bomb, however, Twist was effective in his college debut. He struck out six in his 3 2/3 innings of work. His efforts also allowed the offensive to do their best to climb back into the game, which it did in the fifth inning.

Oregon managed to put up four runs in that frame. Drew Smith got the Ducks on the board with a two-run single up the middle to make it 6-2 before Jeffrey Heard and Bennett Thompson each brought home runs with singles.

Unfortunately, whenever Oregon would make a dent into the deficit, the Ducks couldn’t get an all-important shutdown inning. Texas Tech added a run in the bottom half of the fifth to make it 7-4.

But back came the Ducks with two more runs in the sixth on Smith’s single to score Bryce Boettcher. Left fielder Damian Bravo booted the ball that allowed Carter Garate to also score to make it a one-run game once again at 7-6.

The Red Raiders had an answer in the bottom half of the sixth with a solo homer and later an RBI single and it was 9-6. To their credit, the Ducks never threw in the towel. They scored once in the seventh on Garate’s single and it was 9-7. But that was all Oregon could muster and Texas Tech put the game away with insurance runs in the seventh and eighth.

Garate reached base five times with two doubles, two singles and a walk. He also scored twice. Smith also had four hits and drove in three.

Oregon’s home opener with Lafayette is on Friday with a scheduled first pitch at 4 pm. The Leopards are 0-3 on the season after being swept at East Tennessee State.