Nate Oats discusses upcoming Texas Tech matchup after beating Hofstra
By David Wasson
Published:
The Alabama basketball team advanced to the second round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament in uneven style, as Hofstra harassed the Crimson Tide for 35 minutes Friday before the Tide pulled away for a 90-70 victory in the Midwest Regional in Tampa.
Ahead for fourth-seeded Alabama (24-9) in Sunday’s Round of 32 is fifth-seeded Texas Tech, which dispatched 12th-seeded Akron 91-71 earlier in the afternoon session. And after the Crimson Tide were finished with 13th-seeded Hofstra, coach Nate Oats quickly set his sights on a Red Raiders team that has been playing without All-American JT Toppin.
“I don’t think we’ll spend a whole lot of time on anything before Toppin went out,” Oats said. “If we were going to lose (guard Labaron) Philon or whatever, you’d have to make an adjustment. I think we spend most of our time looking at their games since Toppin went out, and they’re still very good. They’ve got a lot of shooting, very good guard play.”
Toppin, a preseason All-American forward who tore the ACL in his right knee against Arizona State on Feb. 17, was averaging 21.8 points before he went down. Toppin led the Red Raiders in rebounding (10.8 per game) and blocked shots (1.7 per game), and his 47 career double-doubles are the second-most among active players.
Texas Tech (23-10) has played unevenly without Toppin, both losing the Arizona State game and going 4-3 since the injury.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
