Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt released a statement on Saturday night on JT Toppin’s ejection from the game at Houston.
Hocutt posted his statement to X, which read in part, “I am appalled and disappointed by the official’s egregious decision to eject JT Toppin from tonight’s basketball game against Houston.”
His full statement is below, where he addresses reaching out to Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark.
The controversial call came at around the 16-minute mark, when Toppin’s cross-court pass resulted in the kicking of a Houston player.
Here’s the video.
Head coach Grant McCasland got ejected for being so upset with the call that ejected Toppin from the Top 25 match up.
Toppin’s loss was big for the Red Raiders. He leads the team in points per game (16.4), rebounds per game (8.9) and blocks per game (1.2).
However, the Red Raiders ended up pulling off the 82-81 win in overtime.
Chance McMillian tied a season high with 23 points, while Elijah Hawkins had 17 and five players scored in double figures for a balanced attack from the Red Raiders.
Tech was bombs away from three-point range and hit 12 of 30 for 40% on the night, while Houston only made 5 of 14. Tech was also better from the free thrown line, in a game that saw these two teams combine for over 60 attempts. Tech was 24 of 34 (71%), while Houston went 18 for 24 (67%).
Texas Tech is now 8-2 in league play and one game back of 9-1 Houston and Arizona.
