Christian Anderson was not one of Grant McCasland’s biggest concerns for the Texas Tech basketball team’s life after JT Toppin.
Sure, teams would certainly key on the Red Raiders’ sophomore point guard, but that’s no different than what Anderson has seen all season. Texas Tech was considered one of the few teams that had multiple All-American candidates on its roster this season, a fact many forgot when Toppin suffered a season-ending knee injury.
After all, they’re the only set of teammates to be featured on the John R. Wooden Award’s Top 20 list released recently.
Anderson has been one of the focal points of opponent scouting reports throughout the year, and for good reason. The 6-foot-3 Atlanta native is among the best passers in the country and operates the pick-and-roll like a multi-year NBA veteran. While that offensive system was sure to look different without Toppin as the roll man, Anderson has no problems sorting out the rest with the new-look Red Raiders.
Facing a red-hot Cincinnati team, winners of four straight and fighting for its NCAA Tournament life (and that of Wes Miller’s prospects of remaining the Bearcats’ head coach), the Red Raiders found themselves facing a team that literally couldn’t miss from the field in the first five-plus minutes Tuesday, Feb. 24.
Finally, Josiah Moseley got a block to limit the damage defensively. From there, it was about Anderson dictating the tempo, pace and style the Red Raiders will be known for the rest of the way.
Quick passes and decisions, everybody getting involved on a possession and finding the mismatches with so many offensive weapons is where the Red Raiders plan to thrive. They certainly did against the Bearcats, erasing that early nine-point deficit and putting the game away late in the second half for an 80-68 victory.
Anderson showed again that Texas Tech always had more than one player capable of leading a successful team. He also did it in a way he hasn’t done much of this season. Finishing the game with 31 points, a career-high 11 rebounds and 7 assists, Anderson took 11 of his 19 shots inside the arc (the most since the season opener against Lindenwood), getting his way to the basket at a higher pace than usual. That’s where Anderson sees some benefits of Texas Tech’s new existence.
“Just the angles, how they’re kind of playing defense, and made a big emphasis on the blast screens, too, with Murial (Akuentok) and Luke (Bamgboye),” Anderson said. “I think just a combination of that allowed me to get some easy looks at the rim.”
McCasland said that he hasn’t asked Anderson to do more without Toppin in the fold. Instead, the focus is on the mental aspect, not getting frustrated if plays don’t go the right way, lifting teammates up when they get down. The one aspect he’s asked Anderson and all of Texas Tech’s guards is to focus more on rebounding as the team will need to attack the glass as a unit rather than rely on the rebounding vacuum Toppin to wrangle most of them.
“The last couple practices we’ve just been emphasizing how the guards need to rebound,” Anderson said. “Especially with JT being out we’ve got to rebound from all five guys and that’s just what I tried to do tonight.”
The game’s fan giveaway with a Christian Anderson bobblehead, modeled after how he looked during his breakout freshman year. Anderson admitted the collectible looks a bit outdated, but he’s appreciative of being honored with such a hot-ticket figure.
Earlier this season, Texas Tech fans were treated with a JT Toppin replica jersey giveaway. In that game against Utah, Toppin had 31 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists, almost identical to the stat line Anderson put up against Cincinnati.
If anybody needed a reminder that life goes on, Anderson has provided that outlet. In the last two games, he’s totaled 51 points on 19-of-32 shooting overall, 6-of-14 from 3-point range, 8-of-8 from the free throw line, grabbed 16 rebounds and dished out 17 assists.
Miller, Cincinnati’s head coach, noted that Texas Tech has started playing at a faster tempo in Toppin’s absence. That’s by design, and it’s opened up the floor for everybody to contribute a bit more, including Anderson.
“I think Coach Mac has been emphasizing playing fast and trying to get some easy transition points,” Anderson said. “Coach (Jeff) Linder) been working on it with us for the past couple days. I think we’ve been playing a lot faster the past couple games.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Christian Anderson reminds everyone Texas Tech basketball has two All-Americans
Reporting by Nathan Giese, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
