Scott Drew knows a thing or two about what it takes to be a highly successful team. The Baylor head coach has led the Bears to the national championship before, and could’ve had two to his credit were it not for that pesky worldwide pandemic.
Drew also knew he was about to say something Grant McCasland wouldn’t be too happy about. Not that the Texas Tech basketball coach has any ill will toward his former boss for uttering such a thought, but McCasland would rather not have this kind of talk with so much of the regular season to go.
“I’m not trying to put any pressure on them or anything,” Drew said following Tuesday’s game in United Supermarkets Arena, “but they’re good enough. … There’s probably four teams in the Big 12, maybe five, (that) could go to a Final Four if they got hot. And Texas Tech might be the best right now in the country, in the Big 12.”
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For a coach that loves to downplay achievements as much as possible, avoiding hyperbole like the plague, McCasland gritted his teeth a bit when asked about Drew’s comments after Texas Tech’s 73-59 win over the Bears.
“It’s easy for him to say,” McCasland said with a smile. “He likes putting the squeeze on people like that. He’s one of the most encouraging people I’ve every been around in my life. He’s always positive, and is always telling you what you can really do.
“We’re not thinking about anything other than winning the next one and trying to get better as a team. That’s the truth.”
McCasland is right to downplay the compliment, even if Drew isn’t the only person starting to see the Red Raiders (18-4, 9-2) in a much more positive light.
Texas Tech has gained plenty of believers in the team’s seven-game winning streak — which is tied for the second-longest in Big 12 play in program history. National polls, NCAA tournament bracket projections and hoops fans across the nation have taken notice of the Red Raiders, which can be a bit of a double-edged sword.
In McCasland’s brief tenure at Texas Tech, he’s relished in being under the radar. Most coaches would be, allowing them to use “Why aren’t they respecting us” as a catch-all to rile up the team. It’s much easier to show the “haters” what you’re all about and much more difficult to live up to lofty billing.
Just ask Kansas, the consensus preseason No. 1 team in the country. The Jayhawks blew a 21-point lead in Waco on Saturday, leaving many to consider the team cooked before the second round of Big 12 Conference play even began.
Appreciators can fade away just as quickly as they latch onto your success. If a few games over the next two weeks don’t go their way, Texas Tech could easily slip back into being unranked and back into a more unfavorable seed projection for March Madness.
Luckily, McCasland has already instilled that level of thought into his players’ heads. After beating Houston, the Tech coach said the team hasn’t even come close to reaching its full potential. Chance McMillian (game-high 19 points on 5 of 10 3-pointers) and Darrion Williams were with the Red Raiders last season, when the team earned some of that same national attention for their hot start to league play before a brutal February left them scrambling to get it together.
Having veterans who have been around longer than a year is beneficial for McCasland in that respect. The first two transfer additions he made in the spring of 2023 have seen the program when it was just McCasland’s vision for what it could be. Now they’re starting to see the fruits of their labor taking shape, and Feb. 4 is no time to rest on their laurels.
“Don’t get complacent,” Williams said. “I mean, we won a few games, but we could easily lose two or three in a row and then be back to square one. Just keep building from here.”
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Nuggets from Texas Tech basketball’s 73-59 win over Baylor
Williams scored 11 of Tech’s last 13 points, including seven in the team’s 9-2 run in the final 3:35 to close the game. He finished with 17 points and eight rebounds.
Two of Tech’s four losses have come by a total of two points, each in games when Williams had a chance to win it with the final shot. Neither went down, but Williams has remained confident in his ability to close, which led him to the game-tying 3 in regulation against Houston and his final stretch against Baylor.
“I’m rolling with him at all times,” McCasland said of Williams. “His heart’s right, he cares about our team. He’s got the tools to make those plays and our team trusts him.”
Texas Tech has tied the program’s best record through 22 games in the Big 12 era, sharing the honor with the 2017-18 squad that made it to the Elite Eight.
Two more wins in a row would tie the program mark for most consecutive Big 12 games won. That mark currently belongs to the 2018-19 team, which won nine in a row en route to an appearance in the national championship game.
Maybe Drew wasn’t so off base with his Final Four speak after all.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: No. 12 Texas Tech basketball brushes off Final Four talk from Baylor coach
