Last Year: 16-16; Ninth (5-13) in the Big 12 Conference, No Postseason
Head Coach: Grant McCasland (First Year; previously had been 135-65 at North Texas, with one NCAA Tournament appearance)
Projected Starting Lineup
| G Richard ‘Pop’ Isaacs, Jr – 6’2″, 170 – Sophomore |
| G Joe Toussaint – 6’0″, 190 – Senior (5th) |
| W Devan Cambridge – 6’6″, 215 – Senior (5th) |
| F Darrion Williams – 6’6″, 210 – Sophomore |
| C Warren Washington – 7’0″, 225 – Senior (5th) |
Projected Starters’ 2022-23 Stats
Pop Isaacs: 11.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.1 spg – 37.8% 3FG
Joe Toussaint: 9.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.6 apg, 0.9 spg – 37.4% FG @ West Virginia
Devan Cambridge: 9.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 0.8 bpg, 0.6 apg – 50.4% FG @ Arizona State
Darrion Williams: 7.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.4 spg – 35.7% 3FG @ Nevada
Warren Washington: 9.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.8 bpg – 56.3% FG @ Arizona State
Experienced Reserves
| G Chance McMillian – 6’3″, 185 – Junior |
| F KyeRon Lindsay – 6’8″, 205 – Sophomore |
| G Lamar Washington – 6’4″, 205 – Sophomore |
| G D’Maurian Williams – 6’3″, 200 – Senior |
| F Robert Jennings – 6’7″, 225 – Sophomore |
| G Kerwin Walton – 6’5″, 200 – Senior |
Experienced Reserves’ 2022-23 Stats
Chance McMillian: 10.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.1 apg, 0.7 spg – 44.4% 3FG @ Grand Canyon
KyeRon Lindsay: 6.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 0.9 spg, 0.3 bpg – 54.2% FG in 10 games played at Georgia
Lamar Washington: 3.4 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.8 apg, 0.9 spg – 42.5% FG
D’Maurian Williams: 3.1 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 0.6 apg, 0.4 spg – 35.9% 3FG
Robert Jennings: 2.7 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 0.3 spg, 0.2 bpg – 42.6% FG
Kerwin Walton: 3.6 ppg, 0.9 rpg, 0.4 apg, 0.2 spg – 41.1% 3FG
Freshmen
| W Drew Steffe – 6’5″, 180 – Freshman – Consensus Top 200 recruit |
| F Eemeli Yalaho – 6’8″, 210 – Freshman / Finland |
For the Red Raiders, last season was sort of like a beautiful, ornately-framed, heirloom wall painting of a slow-developing trainwreck on the South Plains.
Everything was going right, until, fairly quickly, it wasn’t. Gone before the season finale was former coach Mark Adams. In less than one season, Adams had gone from 27 wins, a Sweet Sixteen appearance, and the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year award to completely losing what had been a very talented locker room, a whole bunch of games, some of the talents out of that locker room to the Transfer Portal and, finally, his job. It was a stunning reversal for everyone around the Tech program.
Enter Grant McCasland, a Texan who has spent both his playing career at Baylor and virtually all of his coaching career at various stops around the state. While McCasland isn’t often accused of being a fast-talking, flashy coach, he established tremendous success at North Texas, where the Mean Green won 56 games with both Conference USA and NIT titles over the past two years.
Now, both McCasland and his new program are starting over. At least he’s brought plenty of talent to Lubbock to help the rebuild, and McCasland has established a reputation for getting his team’s to guard like crazy and leave it all on the floor. The Big 12 has absolutely zero sympathy for a team trying to pick itself up off of the mat, but these Red Raiders should be able to stand on their own.
Tech’s top returnee this season was last year’s top freshman, and the fact that McCasland retained talented guard Richard ‘Pop’ Isaacs has been seen as one solid step in the right direction. “One thing I love about Pop is he wants to win,” McCasland told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. “And he wants to win at Texas Tech.”
His father, Richard Sr, remembers saying it first. His son, as a toddler, was forever bouncing a small plastic basketball around the house. Every day, audible in each room, the faint noise of ‘pop…pop’. “After a while, I’d joke and say, ‘Damn it, Pop Pop, stop making all that noise’”, Richard Sr told Wes Bloomquist for Texas Tech Athletics. “We started calling him Pop Pop. It just stuck.” Richard Isaacs Jr, the man they all call ‘Pop’ these days, grew into a 4-star, Top 100 recruit, and once he got to Lubbock, didn’t waste much time in showing off his talents. He started 24 games in his rookie year and led the Red Raiders in made triples, shooting 37.8% from the land of trey. It may have been with a different coach, but McCasland liked everything he saw about Isaacs as a freshman, including some skills which may have reminded McCasland of a guard he knows well.
In addition to Javion Hamlet and Umoja Gibson, McCasland developed Tylor Perry, the current prize transfer arriving at Tech rival Kansas State, during their days at North Texas. Like Perry, Isaacs is sort of small, has playmaking skills, and can absolutely light it up from the outside – and Isaacs trusts that McCasland is the right coach to help his star in its continued ascension. With great quickness and keen awareness at both ends of the floor, Isaacs plays smart and hard. He struggled a bit at times with turnovers to start his career, but he was a freshman starting in the Big 12. As Isaacs settled in, he made steadier decisions, and this season, he’s poised to arrive as one of the top players in the league. McCasland has spoken of an uptick in physical play from Isaacs this summer, and if the young star can grow his dribble-drive game, there won’t be much stopping him.
“Winning is our only expectation. That’s all we care about. We are here to win.”
– Joe Toussaint
He arrived later on in the summer, but McCasland may have found Isaacs a co-point guard in West Virginia transfer Joe Toussiant. After Bob Huggins made an indelicate exit from the Mountaineers, Toussiant hit the Portal for the second time in as many years. After starting 42 games across three seasons at Iowa, Toussiant headed for the Mountaineers last fall. There, he only started one game all year, but Toussaint did have the best season of his career scoring the ball. Now, McCasland hopes, Toussiant is ready to put it all together. A strong and physical guard, Toussiant will take his dribble into the paint no matter who is guarding him. He’s not an excellent jump shooter, which has limited his scoring potential a bit, but Toussiant drives both to score and to create, which should be a nice contrast to – and lead to plenty of kick-out’s for – Isaacs as a deep threat. Toussiant has handed out 203 assists against 103 turnovers the past two seasons, and is generally composed, even when he attacks the paint.
“Winning is our only expectation,” Toussaint said this fall after coming to know his new teammates. “That’s all we care about. We are here to win. We practice to win. That’s everything for everyone in our program.” As befits his Bronx roots, Toussiant is a clever, abrasive and highly capable defender. Tech will be at something of a size disadvantage with some regularity given the heights of the top guards on the roster, but with tough customers like Toussiant leading the way, Tech’s backcourt will back down from no one.
The third guard expecting to play big minutes is former Grand Canyon transfer Chance McMillian, another player who carries a reputation as a sharpshooter. McMillian made 60 triples last year, and owns a 41% career mark from the land of trey. With a confident and fluid stroke and a good sense for working around screens to reach his spots, McMillian should fit well alongside either Toussiant or Isaacs. “Chance is an athletic, skilled guard that will bring experience and leadership to our roster,” his new coach says of McMillian. An alert and willing passer, McMillian keeps the ball moving and is unselfish in transition. After focusing mainly behind the arc his first two seasons, McMillian also began to show that he could be an effective three-level scorer last year. Using an improved handle and better physicality, McMillian worked his way to the rim and took more of his shots off the bounce than years past, hitting 63% around the rim and 42% of his jumpers inside the arc, per Bart Torvik. As he continues to evolve as a scorer, the Red Raiders will greatly appreciate every point that McMillian is able to fill in.
There are plenty of new faces on the wing and at forward, and McCasland will have great flexibility to mix and match lineups. Darrion Williams was the Mountain West’s Freshman of the Year last season at Nevada, and McCasland made signing him a priority after arriving in Lubbock. “Darrion is the ultimate teammate,” McCasland said when Williams signed on as a Red Raider. “He played in the NCAA Tournament and can help his team win in a lot of different ways. He can score, shoot, pass, and rebound at a very high level. He is a winner.” With elite versatility and skills to develop, his new coach is hoping that Williams will hit the ground running as one of Tech’s best players. Though undersized and not spectacularly athletic, Williams is a very clever player who thinks and acts quicker than most of his opponents; and should only have a greater effect as he adds experience. A tremendous passer, Williams is comfortable bringing the ball up and getting the offense started, and he will find an open teammate from anywhere on the floor. A strong rebounder as well, Williams helps out on the offensive glass especially. He can play in the paint, and is exceedingly crafty around the basket for such a young player, using great footwork and his understanding of hesitation and fakes to free up space. Another strong outside shooter, Williams is just an all-around smart basketball player, and figures to be on the floor for as many minutes as McCasland thinks he can handle.
Devan Cambridge caused quite the stir when he decided to enter the Transfer Portal and use his final season of eligibility at Oregon. That’s because the former Arizona State forward began the offseason by declaring that he would return for a second season in Tempe, where he had transferred from Auburn to play beside his since-graduated brother, Desmond. A few weeks later, though, Devan was in the Portal and then committed to the Ducks. Fortunately for the collective blood pressure of the folks in Tempe, but not so much for those in Eugene, Cambridge decided that Oregon still wasn’t quite gonna get it done, so he picked up his talents once again and headed for Lubbock. Cambridge is a versatile, highly athletic veteran who plays an above-the-rim game; of his 102 2FG’s last year, 31 were dunks, some with borderline atomic force. His bounce and explosiveness should pair well with Darrion Williams. Cambridge can make a triple, but he’s a career 29% shooter from the outside, and is really at his best around the rim.
He can defend almost anyone who isn’t a center, and routinely handled difficult covers for the Sun Devils. “Fans are going to see a lot of excitement from us. Highlight plays. Coach Mac is really big into the fundamentals too. He stands on fundamentals. I’ve already learned a lot from him there. This team is about hard work and defense, grit and grind. But we’re also going to be exciting.” It takes a highlight-reel player to know a highlight-making team, and Cambridge is that. Whether he starts or provides an experienced hand off the bench who will fit with a number of different lineup combinations, Cambridge will play full-bore whenever he’s on the court.
| Five Stats Which Tell The Tale (with national ranks) |
| 52.3% – Team Effective FG Percentage (82nd) |
| 48.9% – Opponent Effective FG Percentage (99th) |
| 7.3 – Steals Per Game (70th) |
| 13.7 – Turnovers Per Game (295th) |
| 7.2 – Made 3FG Per Game (195th) |
KyeRon Lindsay started eight of the ten games he played as a freshman at Georgia, but the Texas native left the Bulldogs midseason to join the Red Raiders. Now, on a Tech team without an abundance of size, Lindsay’s length and hard-nosed approach in the lane will be vitally important. He hasn’t been the dunk contest contender that Cambridge is just yet, but when Lindsay gets to within arm’s reach of the rim, he knows what to do. In his brief debut, Lindsay was very effective inside, making 66% of his attempts near the basket. After arriving before last season ended and working hard this summer, Lindsay was pumped to get into the gym and start moving towards his first game in a Red Raiders jersey. “We wanted to get everyone together and blend well and start working out with the coaches. We need to build the team chemistry before the season starts so we’re ready for when the time comes to play,” Lindsay said. One of many versatile defenders on the roster, McCasland will hope that a stronger, older Lindsay can hold his own up front even better this year than during his time with UGA. With shooting range and developing confidence in his drive, Lindsay is an important piece, and should get plenty of minutes in his first full year.
While McCasland very nearly added a second pivot via the Portal, Dishon Jackson was unable to get medical clearance by the Tech doctors. Thus, veteran newcomer Warren Washington is the only center on the roster. And while he’s a good player, Washington is going to have his work cut out for him this winter. In one of the toughest leagues around, Washington is going to face a cavalcade of talented bigs once conference play begins. A highly mobile and disruptively long post player, he’s seen almost all of the tricks opponents will employ, as Tech will be Washington’s fourth program. “We are thrilled about the winning experience Warren brings to our front court,” McCasland says of the veteran. “Warren played in the NCAA tournament last year and we are excited for him to make a big impact on our team right away.”
In an age when big guys are comfortable launching triples, Washington operates in the lane almost exclusively. He threw down 46 dunks last year, and is an excellent lob threat. While he’s not a highly developed scoring big, Washington knows what he does best – and he’s improved up to 69% from the free throw line over the past two seasons. Washington’s greatest skill is his shot blocking; he has blocked 111 career shots, and the past three seasons – with two different contending programs – has averaged 1.3 rejections per contest. “I like the progression we’ve had in putting the defensive scheme into place…The chemistry has been developing throughout the summer and in preseason practices. It’s really getting better every week,” Washington said this fall. “It’s all coming together.” There is going to be a great deal resting upon Washington’s broad shoulders this season, but he has the experience to equal the challenge.
| Five Out-of-Conference Games to Keep an Eye on |
| N – Villanova – November 22 |
| N – North Carolina / Northern Iowa – November 23 |
| N – Battle 4 Atlantis 3rd game – November 24 |
| N – Vanderbilt – December 16 |
| @ Butler – November 30 |
Experienced support to the top three in McCasland’s backcourt will be provided by Lamar Washington and Kerwin Walton. The biggest of Tech’s point guards, Lamar Washington started three games as a freshman and showed that he can bring a different dimension as a playmaker. He committed 45 giveaways along with his 57 helpers, and Washington will want to tighten things up to earn the best and most minutes this year. His greatest strength is off the bounce, and many of his turnovers were aggressive ones, which can be lived with more easily than when they come via carelessness. Thus, Washington will look to keep attacking the rim as a contrast to Tech’s shooters. He shot 56% around the hoop last year, per Bart Torvik, with seven dunks, and Washington can finish through contact against congestion in the lane. With solid defense, and some better outside shooting, Washington will continue to play a valuable role off the bench as a sophomore. Kerwin Walton is even bigger, but is not the natural playmaker that Lamar Washington has been. He made 41% of his 56 triple tries in his first season in Lubbock, though, and is well-known as a marksman. The former North Carolina guard has struggled the last couple of years to find the role he would prefer, but his deep threat is always valuable off the bench. If he can do enough besides to carve out a role with McCasland’s reworked roster, Walton could provide vital support scoring.
Two more holdovers from last year are D’maurian Williams and Robert Jennings. A scoring wing who put up big numbers while at Gardner-Webb, D’maurian Williams wasn’t able to make quite the same impact last season for the Red Raiders. He’s got inside-outside scoring potential, and has made 36% or more of his triples in each of his three seasons so far. If Williams can defend at a high level and keep up the efficient offense, he should continue to find a role which may expand on a team that needs scoring punch. Jennings, who entered the Transfer Portal before returning to Tech, was closely pursued by Tony Bennett at Virginia this spring, and has potential in the paint which McCasland could really need this year. A good and active rebounder who can score around the rim, Jennings can play bigger than his size and Tech will need him to do so with regularity this winter.
With little proven post depth to support Warren Washington, Finnish freshman Eemeli Yalaho will get the chance to play a significant role. “Yalaho has many assets that will eventually allow him to become a quality Big XII player. To begin with, he is a very physical player on both ends of the court. He can be a steamroller on offense and a brick wall on defense,” said Joe Yeager of 247 Sports. “The physicality of Big XII play will not be a problem for Yalaho.” After starring in his home country and competing at a high level for Finland’s U-18 national team, Yalaho came to play his final prep season in Ohio, and now will get the chance to prove his mettle in as tough a league as there is. Though he lacks great height, Yalaho has good feet at both ends of the floor and is solidly-built. He’s also confident with the ball in his hands and Yalaho is developing a reliable jumper to go with his post game.
McCasland’s second freshman signing is a local who can light it up from the land of trey. Drew Steffe is a sweet-shooting wing from Frisco, TX, who turned down TCU, Xavier and Auburn to play for the Red Raiders. “Although he is more of a floor spacer than a true playmaker, Steffe will be effective in offensive structure because he cuts well away from the ball and is also an instinctive ball-mover and passer off the dribble when playing within the flow of an offense,” said Brandon Jenkins of 247 Sports. Tech has a definite need for consistent shooters, and if Steffe can defend at a reasonable level, he should get the chance to let fly as a rookie.
McCasland is a coach who has made lineups like Tech will have this year work before. They aspire to play faster than McCasland’s UNT teams, and they’ll have the perimeter depth to do so. “We’ve had a remarkable summer with our team together,” McCasland said. “My favorite part of this journey so far is when we got the full staff and roster complete and we were all together on the court. There’s a real energy with people believing and having high expectations for Red Raider basketball. You want to be a part of it.”
After the way Tech unraveled last year, the team’s holdovers are hungry. “Our team has a lot of competitiveness and grit. A lot to prove,” Walton to Wes Bloomquist for Texas Tech Athletics. “We have a chip on our shoulder that is going to help us stay together and push each other to be competitive in everything we do.” The Red Raiders will have to establish themselves before conference play if they hope to remain above water in the new year. Tech will get three tough tests in a row at the Battle 4 Atlantis in just their third week of the season. If they can weather that storm, it will bode well for the rest of the year. Things got beyond frustrating last year, but this time around, Texas Tech is going to have their revenge. And they’re out to rebuild a reputation for serious winning.
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