Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images
By Hunt Palmer
Matt McMahon’s fourth season is off to a hot start.
The Tigers are 8-0 for the first time in five seasons, but the opposition has been poor. Drake lost half its roster and coach from last year’s 31-4 team. DePaul has a loss to Buffalo. Boston College may be the worst team in the ACC. LSU’s program isn’t in a place to play the national heavyweights, punching down a couple of weight classes in November isn’t a crime.
Things get real on Sunday.
Texas Tech is a top 20 team that has already locked horns with a pair of elite teams. Purdue, which may have the best team in the country, ran the Red Raiders off the floor in the Bahamas. But Texas Tech stood nose-to-nose with Illinois in Champaign and lost by four. Sunday’s tilt in Fort Worth will be a great indicator of where LSU stands entering the semester break. Next weekend a game SMU team awaits in New Orleans.
STOPPIN’ TOPPIN
JT Toppin may be the best big man LSU sees all year. Last season’s Big 12 Player of the Year leads the way for Texas Tech, and he’s tough to deal with. Toppin is 6-foot-9 and 230 pounds, and he has elite hands around the basket. He averages 22.1 points per game and shoots 54 percent from the floor. Almost all of Toppin’s damage is done near the rim. He is EXTREMELY left-handed and will do whatever it takes to get to that right shoulder and go up.
At Illinois, Toppin was 17-for-25 from the floor and scored 35 points without making a free throw. He’s a poor shooter from range (2/16 from 3 pt) and a bad free throw shooter (49%), but he’ll handle his business on the block.
JT Toppin, Texas Tech 6-9 PF, 20 y/o
-NPOY candidate. Dominates on O with instincts, strength, 7-1 WS, touch
-Made 79 floaters/1-handers—great ball control
-Creates space/angles w/ body and timing
-43% on pick-pops
-31% usage, low 9% TO rate
-Active under O-glass
-Smart reads in… pic.twitter.com/AGh3ftNk7E— Jonathan Wasserman (@NBADraftWass) October 3, 2025
Michael Nwoko matches up well with Toppin from a physicality standpoint. He’s got an inch and 40 pounds on him. The key is going to be keeping Nwoko out of foul trouble. The Tiger big man picked up two quick first half fouls at Boston College. That can’t happen on Sunday. On the other side of the floor, I would absolutely make Toppin guard Nwoko around the rim. Foul trouble the other way could really hurt the Red Raiders.
BOARD BATTLE
Largely thanks to Toppin, Texas Tech is sixth in the country in offensive rebounds per game. LSU cannot allow that to become a key source of offense for the Red Raiders. The Tigers have plenty of length and size to compete on the boards. Drake, DePaul and Boston College only averaged eight offensive rebounds per game in the three contests versus LSU. That will do just fine. If that number creeps north of 15, that’s a big problem.
SHOOTING STARS
This is pretty simple. LSU needs to make some jump shots. Texas Tech probably will. Christian Anderson (41.1%) and Donovan Atwell (44.4%) have shot three at a high level for Texas Tech. That compliments Toppin’s post presence very well. LSU is 10th in the country in offensive efficiency to this point. They’ve gotten there by ranking 267th in threes attempted. That formula works. Keep it up. But when those open threes do show up, Max MacKinnon, DJ Thomas and Marquel Sutton need to make them. PJ Carter can chip in when he’s on the floor, too.
Texas Tech figures to win the war from the three point line. They do a lot more of that than LSU, but it can’t get lopsided. LSU doesn’t figure to be able to parade to the free throw line against Texas Tech the way they could against Alcorn State or UNO. This is a skilled offensive team. Thomas is a surgeon. MacKinnon is a deft scorer. Sutton is versatile, and Nwoko has been almost automatic. Things will juts come a little more challenging in this matchup, so some jumpers will have to fall.
Tipoff is at 2:00 from Fort Worth and can been seen on ESPN2.
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