17. Texas Tech (20-7)
A big part of college basketball and sports in general is about overcoming adversity. Texas Tech had some significant challenges on their schedule and have looked the part of a top contender at times, especially in those wins over Duke and Houston. They added another at Arizona in an amazing showing last weekend, but they were really hit squarely with that adversity this week.
On Tuesday night, Texas Tech lost in more than one way as they fell 72-67 at Arizona State. They also lost their star JT Toppin to a torn ACL after a 20-point, 8-rebound effort in a tough loss. Grant McCasland wasn’t going to let his team just fold and they really came out strong on Saturday, winning 100-72 over Kansas State. Donovan Atwell had 26 points while Christian Anderson had 21 points and 9 assists in the win.
The Red Raiders will need plenty more from those two stars especially without Toppin. Honestly this injury really sucks for a team that legitimately could have made a deep postseason run yet again. We’re not saying the season’s over and what remains in Lubbock could still win some important games, but you can’t help but feel the devastation. They’ll have a suddenly challenging week ahead against Cincinnati and Iowa State and we’ll see just how badly this injury affects this team.