On the Court
SI is ranking all of the power forward prospects and JT Toppin checks in at No. 4:
Sophomore JT Toppin had an excellent freshman season at New Mexico before transferring to Texas Tech to play for the Red Raiders. He was Mountain West Rookie of the Year, averaging 12.4 points and 9.1 rebounds per game and shooting 64.0% from the floor. He’s projected in the top 20 of the 2025 NBA Draft.
Don’t forget that T-Rank has Texas Tech as the projected #19 team in the nation and only has Toppin scoring 6.6 points and grabbing 5.7 boards a game. Think that will be more.
Busting Brackets’ Joey Loose: Texas Tech Basketball: Why Elijah Hawkins is the most important team transfer for 2024-25
Not explicitly known for his scoring or shooting, Hawkins took advantage of those opportunities and has made nearly 38% of the 3-pointers in his career, but his ball distribution and court vision are clearly the highlights here. He’s not the player who’s going to go out and give you 15 points a night; instead he’s the key cog in the whole offense. Hawkins is the piece who creates the magic, giving opportunities for shooters like Williams and Walton.
The departure of Pop Isaacs put a dark cloud over the program, but slotting Hawkins into that point guard position makes this a winning offseason. What Hawkins lacks in his scoring he certainly makes up for in other departments, especially after finishing third in the nation in assists per game. Like we previously mentioned, he’s the picture of what you want as a distributor and he has a history of decent free throw shooting.
On the Gridiron
Dallas Morning News’ Justin Apodaca: Joey McGuire: Texas Tech has ‘work cut out for us’ vs. Arizona State RB Cam Skattebo
It will be about carrying momentum into Big 12 play throughout this week in practice, especially defensively where McGuire was embarrassed by the effort in the first two games, but it improved on Saturday.
“You know, I was, it’s one of those deals, man, when you create turnovers, you know, think we scored 21 points in 52 seconds,” McGuire said. “And that’s short fields, that’s defense playing really good football. And, you know, we’ve got to do that. We’ve got to build off of that.”
Defensively, the Red Raiders will face a massive challenge with the Sun Devils run game, led by running back Cam Skattebo and sprinkled by quarterback Sam Leavitt. Skattebo is coming off an AP Player of the Week nod in Week 2 for his 262-yard performance against Mississippi State. He has found the end zone five times in three games, as well.
CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah: Georgia governor passes executive order blocking NCAA from enforcing NIL rules for in-state schools
Georgia governor Brian Kemp has signed an executive order prohibiting the NCAA from enforcing NIL legislation against in-state schools, state officials announced Tuesday. The ruling would give a major advantage to in-state schools, especially the University of Georgia, as the rules surrounding athlete compensation continue to evolve.
According to the order: “Neither the NCAA, an athletic conference, nor any other organization with authority over intercollegiate athletics shall take any adverse action against a postsecondary educational institution in the State of Georgia for such institution facilitating compensation, offering compensation, or compensating an intercollegiate student-athlete for the use of such student-athlete’s NIL.”
The State Press’ Jack Kartsonis: “This will go down in history”: ASU Football looks toward Texas Tech in Big 12 debut
If Texas Tech succeeds in slowing down senior Cam Skattebo and the ASU running game, redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt and the ASU passing game might need to step up. The Sun Devils’ leading receiver through three weeks is redshirt sophomore Jordyn Tyson, who also leads all Sun Devil receivers and running backs, including Skattebo, in EPA per play.
“My strongest skill set is that I’m so versatile,” Tyson said. “The offense can line me up in the slot, they can line me up outside, and they can run me on every single route.”
With their second consecutive game in Texas and debut in the Big 12 comes a raucous environment — Texas Tech is notorious for having a rowdy home crowd. ASU must come prepared.
“It’s going to be an unbelievable environment for our guys to play in,” Dillingham said. “The exciting part about joining the Big 12 is the environments that we get to play in. We just have to make sure that we clean up the pre-snap penalties that we had (last week).”
Player availability.