How JT Toppin wound up as Texas Tech basketball's biggest offseason addition

During one of the Texas Tech basketball team's summer workouts in the Womble Practice Facility, Darrion Williams was working for a rebound. Tech's leading rebounder last season, and one of the top returning players in all of the Big 12, Williams, more often than not, will come down with boards when he's attacking the glass.

Williams was trying to box out one of his new teammates, JT Toppin. The 6-foot-9 New Mexico transfer, who led the Mountain West in rebounding (9.1 per game) en route to the conference freshman of the year — the same award Williams won the year before at Nevada.

In this instance, Toppin got the better of Williams in this exchange.

Using his long arms and relentless attitude, Toppin reached over Williams for the offensive board, pivoted quickly and dunked with his right hand (he's a lefty) in the blink of an eye.

Williams could only look at head coach Grant McCasland, who was looking back at the returning all-Big 12 competitor. Neither had to say much, knowing what each was thinking.

FIRST REACTIONS: What New Mexico transfer JT Toppin brings to Texas Tech basketball

"It's one thing to watch it on film and watch it in games," McCasland said of Toppin. "It's another thing to be out here and experience it. ... I can just tell you, we're really excited about his ability."

This offseason, McCasland was able to replenish the Red Raider roster rather than rebuild it like he did last year. That's the benefit of having a player of Williams' caliber sticking around for another year, making his decision public less than a month after Tech's loss to NC State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Adding a player like Toppin to the mix — a lengthy, bouncy athletic big who can guard multiple positions, is a major plus, one that has McCasland feeling good about his team's capabilities even in the doldrums of July.

"He's here," McCasland said," because he wants to be part of a team that wins and that says a lot about him as a person."

JT Toppin's decision to join Texas Tech basketball

Tech had a bit of an edge when it came to snagging Toppin out of the transfer portal. A Dallas native, who won back-to-back Class 4A state championships with Faith Family Academy, Toppin spent his freshman year at New Mexico, where he learned the college life wasn't going to be a cakewalk.

"How hard you've got to work," Toppin said of his year in Albuquerque. "The process isn't going to be easy and you've got to come ready every day. I just had to practice hard every day and that's when everything started coming for me."

Toppin, though, made things look easy. He set Lobo freshman records for double-doubles (12), rebounds and blocks, leading the conference in field goal percentage (62.3%), rebounds, offensive rebounds (3.67) and blocks (68). After a successful debut, Toppin inserted his name into the transfer portal while also declaring for the NBA Draft. That allowed him maximum flexibility with all options on the table.

As his stay at the draft combine wound down, it was time for Toppin to make a decision. He hadn't officially decided if he was staying in the draft or not, but he wanted to have his college choice locked in.

"I knew a few days after the combine I was coming to Tech," Toppin said. "I wanted them to know so I didn't have them guessing."

After that, it was all about whether he'd be in college at all. The draft combine wrapped up on May 19 with Toppin projected somewhere in the second round or going undrafted. Nine days later, Toppin withdrew from the draft, publicly committed to Texas Tech and had his signing officially announced all in about a five-minute span.

"I think his focus really was how does he get in the NBA," McCasland said, "and he was really close. I believed he was gonna be drafted. Now, where? I think him deciding to come back to school, he's got an awesome family. He's got a great high school coach. He's got great people around him. His mom's amazing. I just think they in the end felt like this was the best way for him to continue to grow, improve."

Now that Texas Tech has Toppin, what are they gonna do with him?

Aside from the Tech coaches and returning players like Williams keeping him in the loop, Toppin also had his former high school teammate, Jazz Henderson, informing him of the inner workings for the Red Raiders.

Henderson committed to Tech as a preferred walk-on in late March, shortly after winning his third consecutive state title at Faith Family, the first two coming with Toppin by his side.

"He said everybody's cool and you've got to work," Toppin said. "You got to play with effort every day and I like to go somewhere where I've got to play hard and practice hard every day and the coaches are gonna get me better. It just taught me that I wanted to come here."

How best to utilize Toppin and his skillset are questions McCasland and the Red Raiders are figuring out. McCasland said Toppin, along with 7-foot Pittsburgh transfer Federiko Federiko, provides the team with significant size and toughness around the rim the team lacked last year.

COMING SOON: Here's who Texas Tech basketball will face during the 2024-25 season

Toppin said he and Williams, a likely one-two punch, have developed chemistry since the beginning.

"He welcomed me with open arms when I first came in," Toppin said, "and he's a good passer, so I know what they expect and we just keep building chemistry on the court. I know when he's got to pass it and stuff like that. We've just got that connection. I feel like we're gonna play really good this year, be good together."

Coming out of the combine, Toppin said one of the main things NBA teams told him to work on was his perimeter game. Toppin hit 34% of his 3-point attempts last season, though that came on just 32 attempts. The balancing act to getting Toppin's perimeter game up while still maximizing the skills that made him a standout at New Mexico is the challenge for McCasland this year.

"I think JT knows what he does best to win," McCasland said. "... I think one thing I love about JT is I think he understands the balance of this is what helps him pro wise and this is what helps our team win. I think he's just got to play the right way, but his perimeter game, I love the way he can make open 3s. It really does change (things) and he's a great passer. I think he's an extremely underrated passer. I'm really excited about involving him in the offense and helping him get better and helping us win."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: How JT Toppin wound up as Texas Tech basketball's biggest offseason addition