By Zeno Jo - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

November 11, 2025

No. 11 Texas Tech is flying into Champaign on Tuesday for a big-time matchup with No. 14 Illinois.

Between the Red Raiders and the Fighting Illini are two top 20 teams and two high-flying teams that have rebuilt themselves this past offseason, with key additions replacing valuable departures.

If you’re not sure who I am, hello! I’m Zeno Jo, a writer who joined the IlliniGuys team earlier this fall. You’ll see my name attached to a lot of football recruiting stories this fall, but as the weather gets colder, you can keep an eye out for me filling in for Brad or Matt at State Farm Center. A little bit about me: I’m a Korean-American born in Lubbock, and I’ve spent the last 13 years of my life in Champaign, having done my undergrads in journalism at the U of I. I’ve split time between watching Texas Tech and Illinois’ sports teams throughout my life, with one of my earliest sporting memories being Graham Harrell’s last-second touchdown to Michael Crabtree against Texas in ‘08.

Enough about me, though. Illinois has the first of its four toughest games of the season coming up this week. As someone who’s covered Brad Underwood’s teams for the past three years and actively watched the Red Raiders since the Chris Beard days, I’m going to do my best job at giving you three viewing points for Tuesday’s heavyweight matchup, starting with the big man that the better part of 15 thousand should already know about…

JT Toppin

The 2025 second-team All-American and Big 12 Player of the Year is no joke. JT Toppin, in his first year of playing basketball at the Power Six level, stood up to the test and was the spiritual and literal spearhead of a Texas Tech team that reached the Elite Eight for the first time since 2019, the year the Red Raiders reached the national championship.

The big man missed Texas Tech’s season opener against Lindenwood, which opened the door for a career day from guard Christian Anderson (more on him later), with a lower-body injury, but he was elite in the team’s second game. He scored 31 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for his 20th double-double in 34 games for Texas Tech and went 10-for-19 from the field.

Toppin’s game is a bit of a lost art. At 6-foot-9, he’s what modern NBA general managers might call an undersized or traditional power forward, but what makes him dangerous is his offensive skillset. He has a deep bag when it comes to moves he can make in the post, which could be dangerous given the convoy of shooters Tech’s squad is filled with.

A lot of four-out, one-in sets or looks with Toppin having the ball alone on one half of the court are to be expected. Creating mismatches and open shooters is the name of the game for the Red Raider offense, with that stemming from the fact that most of Toppin’s shots will come from inside the arc. Last year, 87 percent of his shots were two-point attempts, but he did still convert on just under a third of his attempts from deep. Inside the arc, he converted at a 58.6 percent
clip.

Toppin’s dominance inside and his inability, or lack of insistence, to shoot the three-ball is kind of what makes Tech’s offense so dangerous, which creates the issue that is our next point…

The Three Ball

Illinois and Texas Tech have a lot in common when it comes to their offensive efforts. Both teams love their three-pointers. While two games are a small sample size, we’ve been able to see just how much both teams create for shots from beyond the arc, as well as how well they can both convert.

In the first two games of the year in buy games, 49.3 percent of Illinois’ shots were from deep, while Texas Tech had just over 52 percent of their shots being three-point attempts. Why? Both teams have elite shooters. Both teams are making just around 40 percent of their three-point attempts, but if there’s one guy you should keep an eye out for on Tuesday, Donovan Atwell is the first.

The senior UNC Greensboro transfer has scored 41 points this season, with his only attempts from open play coming from deep (12-of-24). Atwell is one of those guys who has the green light to shoot from beyond the arc, even with 20 seconds left on the shot clock.

That part about Toppin’s inside dominance? The picture above is the proof in the pudding. Toppin has all five Sam Houston State players nearby, with LeJuan Watts nearby – a two-on-five advantage. Watts plays the outside of the SHSU defender, easy real estate against someone looking to play inside for the potential rebound off of a Toppin hook or layup, but the position allows Watts to delay a would-be closeout to Atwell, who eventually sinks from deep.

Anderson, a sophomore guard who was named to the All-Tournament Team at the FIBA U-19 Basketball World Cup this past summer while playing for Germany, is another threat to be reckoned with. He blossomed into a star over the second half of his freshman campaign and has taken up point guard duties for the team this year. Anderson’s production has also made the losses of guys like Darrion Williams (transferred to NC State), Chance McMillian (graduated), and Elijah Hawkins (graduated) much easier to stomach for the staff in Lubbock.

Countering Toppin, who opens up the floor for shooters by creating a numbers advantage on the perimeter, will require a strong interior defender. With Tomislav Ivisic likely a scratch with a knee injury, that means the likes of his twin brother, Zvonimir Ivisic, will be tasked with keeping Toppin at bay. While the 6-foot-9 David Mirkovic could also be called on to play at the five in a small-ball look, keeping big Z out of foul trouble will be key.

The Injury Bug

On the topic of T. Ivisic, the injury bug, and the symptom of scheduling a big non-conference game this early has to be discussed. Hiding cards to keep your team’s upper limits off the scouting reports of an opposing team could be key, but resting star players for big games could be, too. While I’m not suggesting that either team is wrapping up players with fake injuries a la Paul Pierce, the incentive to rest an important guy in buy games in favor of making a season debut in a March Madness-level game could be possible.

While Illinois returned Andrej Stojakovic in the win over Florida Gulf Coast, it is still without Mihailo Petrovic and Brandon Lee. Texas Tech returned the aforementioned Watts against SHSU, but was without sophomore guard Leon Horner. Villanova transfer forward Josiah Moseley and Luke Bamgboye, who came in from VCU, have yet to take the court this season.

Bamgboye, who stands at 6-foot-11, could help McCasland throw out a few different looks that would allow for Toppin to make plays inside, while Moseley could be a true wing for a Tech team that deploys a lot of oversized guards. Illinois’ injury struggles don’t change anything on the offensive side of the ball.

All five guys can and will shoot, and the wings will stretch the floor for slashers like Stojakovic and Kylan Boswell. Both teams can push the ball well and have little to no difficulty scoring the ball. The battle will ultimately come down to the defense. How much will Illinois miss having a second guy who can reliably guard Toppin in the paint? How will a team that plays four oversized guards defend against a team that can play with four forwards?

Those questions will be asked and answered at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, with the game broadcast on FS1.