Big 12 Player of the Year JT Toppin has spurred the NBA Draft and will return to Texas Tech for the 2025-26 season, he announced Wednesday. Toppin is well-placed to win national honors as a sophomore star for the Red Raiders and become a preseason player of the year in college basketball.
With Toppin’s return, Texas Tech ensures that they remain a national level force after reaching the Elite Eight as the third seed in manager Grant Maccasland’s second season. The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 22.3 points, 10.6 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in the final 15 games of Texas Tech, moving up to No. 15 in the CBS Sports NBA Draft prospect rankings.
The Red Raiders rank 13th in Gary Parrish’s fair Airy Top 25 and 1 2025-26 season. Reclaiming Toppin is a victory not only for Texas Tech, but also for the entire college basketball team. In an unprecedented moment of player compensation in the sport, the Red Raiders kept Toppin into a test or relocation portal for NBA Draft waters.
CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reports that Toppin is back and is in line on $4 million payday.
Toppin was well positioned as a potential first round pick in the NBA Draft, but there’s still a lot to improve before turning Pro. The former four-star prospect who played his freshman season in New Mexico has added versatility to his game after being used primarily as a traditional post player in the 2024-25 season.
Texas Tech was a huge success on the way to reach the 28-9 record, deploying Toppin as The Roll Man in a pick-and-roll situation. Toppin also got plenty of touch to block the post-up and scored 37 buckets on offensive rebounds in 2024-25 for each synergy.
His three-point attempts increased from 32 as New Mexico freshmen to 55 this past season, but Toppin’s percentage fell from 34.4% to 32.7%. If Dallas, Texas, can improve external shooting and work to advocate for bigger jobs around the area, it will attract even more attention from NBA scouts next year.
