College basketball rankings: Texas Tech rises to No. 15 after gritty win over Houston on the road

When your coach and leading scorer are both ejected in the opening minutes of a road game against a higher-ranked team that’s won 33 straight at home, you’re supposed to lose.

No real person would take issue with that sentence, would they?

So, after Texas Tech forward JT Toppin was ejected in a way that defied common sense less than four minutes post tip off on Saturday, and after Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland understandably objected and got himself ejected too, the odds that already weren’t in the Red Raiders’ favor became even longer.

Texas Tech was supposed to lose.

But thanks to a heavy dose of 3-point shooting, a pair of clutch free throws from Chance McMillian with 16.5 seconds remaining in overtime and one last defensive stop on Houston’s final possession, Texas Tech didn’t do what it was supposed to do. Instead, the Red Raiders won 82-81 at Houston and, again, snapped the Cougars’ 33-game winning streak inside the Fertitta Center that spanned more than two years. Additionally, they gave themselves a Quadrant 1 victory that’s arguably the best one anybody’s recorded all season, all things considered.

“We had a TV feed in the locker room, [and Toppin] was jumping up and down and celebrating so loud, and that was probably one of the greatest hugs I’ve ever had in my life — genuinely,” McCasland said. “Because there was a genuine belief that we were still going to win this game, he was just in disbelief as to why he was ejected.”

So were the rest of us.

By now, you might’ve seen it. If not, take a look.

What you just watched is Toppin get doubled, at which point he had to quickly move the ball. The main issue (other than the two men standing in front of him) was that Toppin is left-handed and was suddenly trapped holding the ball like he’s a right-handed pitcher operating out of the stretch. So, he had to turn his body in the air to make the cross-court pass he needed to make. When he did that, his right leg flew into the air in a way that was more natural than deliberate when it connected with an extremely sensitive area of Joseph Tugler’s body.

That’s what happened.

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Cameron Salerno

Only a non-serious person would even try to suggest what happened there was worthy of an ejection. So I understand why McCasland was furious; he should’ve been. Either way, all’s well that ends well. So McCasland and Toppin were all smiles Saturday night — and they are now the faces of a team that’s ranked 15th in Sunday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.