Grant McCasland reflects on Tech's first loss of the season
It’s still very early in the season for the Red Raiders, just playing their third game, which resulted in an 81-77 loss to No. 14 Illinois in Champaign. With a group that is almost all newcomers in the starting lineup besides JT Toppin and Christian Anderson, it takes time for a team to gel. This group still has a lot of growing to do, but they’re heading in the right direction.
With Luke Bamgboye and Josiah Moseley still out with injuries, that hurt Tech’s depth and defense around the rim. They couldn’t stop some of Illinois’ most explosive guards and struggled defensively for most of the first half. Tech head coach Grant McCasland spoke to Chris Level after the game to discuss the mentality his group played with that held them back and how they will learn from it.
First road test
The Red Raiders took on a tough non-conference schedule to prepare for a tough Big 12 season. They got what they wished for in a road game at Illinois, and the environment definitely played a factor in how the team began the game.
“These games are won with your competitiveness and your grit, that’s the only way I can describe it. For a road environment for us with our team, there were some guys that looked a little stunned, and how you know is you try to make all of the right plays and you’re not trying to go beat somebody. There’s a difference,” McCasland said. “We looked in the first half like we were trying to do things right, which is admirable of our group… we finally got the shock out of this game and decided we were going to actually go try to beat somebody. There was a difference. You saw we were more aggressive defensively in the second half…it was a good learning experience obviously, but I think they deserve all the credit by getting to the free throw line and pinning fouls on us.”
McCasland’s takeaways and improvements to be made
JT Toppin was a monster tonight, finishing with 35 points and 11 rebounds, but he couldn’t win the game on his own. LeJuan Watts also contributed with 21 points and four rebounds, but the rest of the guards fell short. McCasland knows this game will help them get better and help him improve as a coach for the rest of the season.
“I’ve got quite a few regrets in regards to things that I wish we would’ve done better. The way we came out the second half and the way we scrapped, I mean we’ve got a lot we can take from that. I thought JT was phenomenal defensively and offensively, and we’ve just got to find some guys that want to have the same scrap level and help us,” McCasland said. “That’s what you do this time of year. Get ready and get better. We’ve got a group that can get better and hopefully we get a few more guys back and keep putting pressure on people with the way we guard. We’ve got the right group we just gotta get better in practice.”
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