Grant McCasland, Texas Tech basketball together in Indy again for road test at Butler
Grant McCasland's reunion tour has another scheduled stop.
The 2021 NCAA Tournament was the first time McCasland's name came up to coach the Texas Tech basketball team. McCasland had just led the North Texas Mean Green to the program's first March Madness victory, knocking off four-seed Purdue 78-69 in overtime in Lucas Oil Stadium at Indianapolis.
An hour down the road, in Assembly Hall at Bloomington, Chris Beard and the Red Raiders picked up a win over Utah State to open their NCAA Tournament stay.
Two days later, both teams' runs came to an end. Tech fell to Arkansas in a game that tipped at 5:10 p.m. UNT had the next game on the TNT television schedule, beginning their loss to Villanova immediately after inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
That victory pushed McCasland into the conversation to replace Beard, who left to coach Texas about a week later. He didn't get the job that time, staying at UNT to continue his ascent. When Beard's replacement, Mark Adams, didn't pan out either, it was McCasland's job if he wanted it.
About the Bahamas: How Texas Tech basketball got its groove back in the Battle 4 Atlantis
Beard's final game as Texas Tech's coach came in Hinkle Fieldhouse, home of the Butler Bulldogs. It'll be McCasland leading the Red Raiders (5-1) into the historic venue on Thursday for the Big 12-Big East Challenge contest.
McCasland didn't make much of the connections between himself, Texas Tech and Indianapolis. He knows about them, but living in the past where everything has changed since isn't his focus anymore.
He also knows the challenge ahead for his team against a similarly situated Bulldogs (5-2) squad.
"Anytime you play on the road," McCasland said, "specifically a team that's this good in the Big East, you better be at your best. We got the opportunity to play neutral site games and this being a road game will really test our team."
Tech's trip to the Bahamas, which followed an uneven three-game home stretch, shined some light on McCasland's first team as coach. From the 10-minute mark of the second half of their second game on, the Red Raiders outscored Northern Iowa and Michigan by 33 points.
"It felt like our defensive identity was simpler," McCasland said. "We started to kind of get a rotation where we could switch screens but we could also, when we were in coverage that we knew how we were closing out, who we were closing out to. You could just tell there was a different level of comfort in regards to the guys that we're playing with."
Kerwin Walton, who played spotty minutes through the first four games, saw his action increase to close out the Battle 4 Atlantis. His offensive numbers (five total points in the tournament) weren't what forced McCasland to play the 6-foot-5 wing more than usual.
"I think the biggest thing in playing Kerwin," McCasland said, "is he allows the floor to get more space. He's got a real identity to how he plays the game. Really, the better he defends and the better he rebounds, the more he's going to play."
That's a similar methodology to how McCasland has set up his rotations so far this season. Those who aren't a liability on the defensive end will get the most playing time, especially against power conference opponents such as Butler.
Pierre Brooks II has been Butler's catalyst so far this season. The 6-foot-6 Michigan State transfer averages 16.7 points while shooting 41% from 3-point range so far. Brooks is coming off a 26-point outing against Penn State, which he followed with 25 against Boise State.
Brooks combined to go 9-for-16 from 3 in those two Bulldog victories.
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"I feel like they've got different guys that are playing well on different nights," McCasland said of Butler, "but the physicality Pierre brings and the way he's played recently, you can tell it was a big reason why they won their last two games.
Butler and Texas Tech had identical efforts in their respective Thanksgiving-week tournaments. Each lost to the eventual tournament champion — Butler to Florida Atlantic, Texas Tech to Villanova — before winning their final two games.
Thursday represents Tech's only true road game of the non-conference schedule. Another neutral site game (Dec. 16 against Vanderbilt in Fort Worth) is on the horizon. McCasland pointed to being connected, cohesive and communicating will be the keys for the trip to Hinkle.
"It just has to be at the highest level," McCasland said. "That's really going to be our emphasis is how connected we stay and how committed to each other we can stay over the course of 40 minutes on the road. It's always that, but it gets amplified when you play road games."
Texas Tech at Butler
What: Big 12-Big East Battle
Where: Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
When: 5:30 p.m. central
TV: FS1
Records: Texas Tech 5-1, Butler 5-2
Notable: This will be Texas Tech's first meeting against Butler since the Bulldogs topped the Red Raiders in the 2016 NCAA Tournament in what was Tubby Smith's final game as head coach.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Grant McCasland, Texas Tech basketball together in Indy again
