No. 16 Red Raiders look to end Cincinnati’s four-game winning streak

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - While the No. 16 Texas Tech Red Raiders (20-7, 10-4 Big 12) have calmed any fears about their season of not having standout forward JT Toppin, Tech’s men’s head basketball coach Grant McCasland says the team that blew out Kansas State 100-72 on Saturday is close to what fans can expect for the remainder of the season.

“That’s going to be our team from here on out. It’s like, how do we keep guys on the floor that have the fight and collective grit to play the way we want to play defensively, and probably subbing pretty quick in order to make sure that we can maintain that energy,” he said. “And it helped us over the course of the game against Kansas State, and that will be the point of emphasis moving forward.”

Tuesday night, they welcome the Cincinnati Bearcats (15-12, 7-7) who have had a late surge in the last two weeks. They are now riding a four-game winning streak which includes an 84-68 win at then- No. 8 Kansas last Saturday.

“With Cincinnati obviously coming off a huge road win at Kansas and winners of four in a row, they’re just playing with real flow offensively. They’ve always been an elite defensive team, and you can tell their confidence is growing. They’ve got great guard play,” McCasland said. “They’re just so physical. They’re so tough defensively. They’re a great rebounding team. They’re spacing the floor and playing in a more read and react than just running plays, and it’s made them difficult to defend.”

Coach McCasland also says in the four remaining regular season games, along with the Big 12 tournament and the postseason that follows, his team will continue to fight on the boards- even without the conference leader in rebounds.

“Team rebounding is the way we’re going to win. We’ve always been that way from the time we’ve been here. How connected can we be on the defensive end? How well can we rebound? How well do our guards rebound every game? The better our guards rebound, the better our team usually is, and it’s never going to be one person,” he said. “It’s just going to be collective in our pursuit of the ball and how aggressive we can be and not just rebounding. Those balls that are loose and bouncing around, when we get those- you can tell we’re playing the right way.”

Tipoff scheduled for 6 p.m. at the United Supermarkets Arena.