One game after playing his former colleague Jerome Tang, Grant McCasland now gets to square off with current cohort Tommy Lloyd when the Texas Tech basketball team hosts Arizona on Saturday at 1 p.m. in United Supermarkets Arena.
McCasland was an assistant under Lloyd for the Team USA U18 World Cup team that won gold in Buenos Aires last summer. The pair will reunite with the U19 team in Switzerland later this year. But for now, the two are looking to get a crucial Big 12 Conference win against one another.
McCasland applauded seeing Lloyd’s Wildcats turn things around after a tough start to the season, but it’s also not surprising to him.
“The fact that Tommy’s character is there,” McCasland said Thursday, “but it’s his enjoyment of it being difficult. I just don’t think he shies away from it.”
Texas Tech is in a similar spot Arizona (11-5, 5-0) just got out of. The Red Raiders (12-4, 3-2) are now 3-0 on the road after Tuesday’s ugly 61-57 win over Kansas State, but have lost their two Big 12 home games by a combined five points. McCasland echoed the sentiments of Kansas head coach Bill Self — who lost to Iowa State on Wednesday — that the Red Raiders are still figuring out the difference between playing hard and competing.
“I believe it’s a real character of competitiveness together that we’re trying to build,” McCasland said, “and that’ll be the difference in this game Saturday.”
Texas Tech basketball injury report ahead of Arizona matchup
Texas Tech fans watching the Kansas State game may have noticed that JT Toppin was not his usual self. Some may have thought it was due to linger effects from tweaking his left ankle in last week’s game against Iowa State. McCasland said Tuesday that Toppin was “not doing good today and he wasn’t feeling good in the Iowa State game in the second half either.”
McCasland shed some light on this on Thursday, saying Toppin has been battling an illness that’s caused him to drop some weight as of late. After practice, Toppin told McCasland he had to eat more to return to form.
“It’s fun to see him just really want to do that,” McCasland said. “He’s talking about those things he’s got to do in order to prepare for Saturday, and he’ll be ready.”
Texas Tech also won’t have to worry about Darrion Williams, who tweaked his ankle in the second half on Tuesday. With Toppin forced out, Williams gutted out the final stretch of the game, hitting the game-icing runner in the final 30 seconds.
Williams told the media Thursday his ankle is fine and he’ll also be ready for Arizona.
Scouting Texas Tech basketball’s opponent: Arizona Wildcats
Few teams in the country are as hot as they Arizona Wildcats have been as of late. After struggling to a 4-5 start to the season, the Wildcats have won seven straight heading into Saturday’s matchup, looking like the version many experts expected to see from Tommy Lloyd’s team.
Caleb Love (15.3 points, 4.3 rebounds per game) continues to lead Arizona in scoring but his outside shooting has dropped this season. Love is shooting just 31% from 3-point range on the year, which includes an 8-of-26 mark over the last four games.
Arizona’s success, though, has been from its depth of options. Jaden Bradley (11.7 points) and former El Paso Chapin star KJ Lewis (10.6 points) have picked up more slack in recent weeks, as has 7-foot sophomore Henri Veesaar.
Veesaar had just two double-digit scoring games in the first 11 games of the year but has three in Arizona’s first five Big 12 games.
The Wildcats rank just ahead of Texas Tech in offensive production, but lead the conference in rebounding and are 11th nationally in rebound margin. Opponents are also shooting 31% from 3-point land against Arizona, so the Red Raiders may have to adjust their attack for this one.
Players to watch: Texas Tech’s Elijah Hawkins and Arizona’s Anthony Dell’Orso
Elijah Hawkins continues to put on passing displays for Texas Tech. Since Big 12 play has begun, Hawkins is averaging 13.2 points per game and has 37 total assists to just five turnovers. That’s a ridiculous 7.4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Arizona has an opportunistic defense, averaging 8.2 steals per game, so Hawkins will have to once again take care of the ball and facilitate the Texas Tech offense.
Arizona is second-to-last in the Big 12 in 3-point shooting (32.6%) but Anthony Dell’Orso is the one Wildcat that must be feared from deep. Dell’Orso is shooting 45.6% from 3 this season and has gone 7-of-11 from 3 over the last three games. Love will jack up plenty of deep shots (averages 7.6 attempts per game), but Dell’Orso is the one to fear from the outside.
Score prediction: Arizona 83, Texas Tech 82
Bottom line: All computer metrics and the eye test say Texas Tech is among the best teams in the country. That may be true, but to prove that correct, the Red Raiders need to start beating good teams, especially at home. No knock for the loss to Iowa State, but Tech also should’ve closed that game multiple times. I can’t predict a win for Texas Tech until they show they can beat teams in the top half of the conference.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Will Texas Tech basketball get a big home win over Arizona? Our breakdown
