Texas Tech will be without star JT Toppin the rest of the way.
The Red Raiders announced on Wednesday that Toppin will miss the rest of the season with a torn right ACL. Toppin went down late inNo. 13 Texas Tech's 72-67 loss at Arizona State, and had to be helped off the floor.
Toppin tried to drive to the rim in transition late in the second half of the contest at Desert Financial Arena on Tuesday when he appeared to lose his balance right as he was going up. That sent Toppin crashing down to the court hard, and he reached for his leg almost immediately under the rim, clearly in a lot of pain.
After remaining down on the court for quite some time, Toppin was helped off and back to the locker room. He did not return.
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Toppin had 20 points and eight rebounds when he went down. The junior, who was named a preseason All-American back in October, has averaged 21.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game this season.
Texas Tech now sits at 19-7 on the season with Tuesday's loss, which came just days after they knocked off then-No. 1 Arizona on the road.
The Red Raiders have been hanging with the top of the Big 12 pretty successfully this season, thanks in part to a big win over Houston late last month. They handed Duke its first loss of the season back in December, too, and currently sit in fifth in the conference standings entering the final stretch of the season.
But Toppin has undoubtedly been a major part of that success. While the rest of their schedule is relatively tame, save for a trip to Ames to take on No. 6 Iowa State next week, surviving the Big 12 tournament and making a run in the NCAA tournament without Toppin is going to be much more difficult.
