On Saturday afternoon in Lawrence, Kansas, two Big 12 teams clashed in an exciting back-and-forth matchup.
Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks welcomed Grant McCasland and the Texas Tech Red Raiders to Allen Fieldhouse for the 18th game of the Big 12 regular season. The two traded blows in the first half with some explosive scoring before settling in for a defensive clinic in the final 20 minutes of regulation. In the end, Texas Tech outlasted Kansas with some clutch shots, cruising to yet another impressive win in league play.
With that, here are the top three takeaways from Texas Tech’s 78-73 win over the Jayhawks.
UnsTOPPINable
As conference play continues to wind down, it’s becoming more and more clear that Texas Tech big man JT Toppin should be named the Big 12 Player of the Year. He’s been virtually unstoppable in every outing this season, averaging 17.2 points and 9.2 rebounds on 55.7% shooting from the field.
Against Kansas, Toppin recorded 21 points, five rebounds, and one assist and was a tough matchup for Hunter Dickinson and Flory Bidunga due to his speed and athleticism. He wound up fouling out with 1:47 left in the game but was picked up by his teammates, who took care of business and left Lawrence with a win.
The KJ Adams Game
For as much grief as senior forward KJ Adams has caught from Kansas fans this season, he deserved a game like this.
The senior forward put up a game-high 21 points and a career-high 13 rebounds in 37 minutes played. He kept Kansas in the game with some explosive dunks, putbacks, and jumpers and was the best player on the court for Bill Self’s group. Unfortunately, Kansas didn’t get much going outside of Adams and Hunter Dickinson, with the other six scorers recording just 34 of the group’s 73 total points.
Unfortunately, the career day wasn’t enough to earn a win, as the Jayhawks dropped the first game of three straight Top 25 matchups.
New Season?
New season? Not so much.
While Bill Self’s “new season” moto had a shot at reviving the Jayhawks and their fanbase with an uptick in play, the reality came crashing down on Saturday against the Red Raiders. Kansas won back-to-back games in impressive fashion against Oklahoma State and Colorado, but it was tough to gage as the pair are two of the worst teams in the Big 12 this season.
Does the “new season” stop with a loss? Not likely, but the Jayhawks have an incredibly tough schedule to finish out the regular season with matchups against No. 4 Houston and No. 22 Arizona.
