On Saturday, Texas Tech forward JT Toppin was ejected from the team’s 82-81 overtime win over No. 6 Houston in what was largely deemed a brutal call from the officiating crew.
The play occurred around the 16-minute mark when Toppin’s cross-court pass resulted in the kicking of a Houston player.
While the play generated immense amounts of backlash from college basketball fans worldwide, Texas Tech broadcaster Chris Level immediately took to the microphone and tore into the referees over the botched call.
“What Grant [McCasland] was saying is that he’s passing the ball, and to be clear, the officiating in this conference is poor,” Level said. “It is very poor. There’s no excuse for ejecting a player and throwing out a head coach two minutes into a massive game like this because the officials can’t handle the pressure.”
“How many times have we gotten to Lubbock, and you don’t have any kind of home-court advantage? They’ve just bowed down to Houston here,” Level continued. “It’s embarrassing for Brett Smith and this crew to let it get out of hand and let their emotions take over when JT Toppin was basically passing the ball.”
Texas Tech went on to win the game without their star forward and head coach in what became the ultimate test of ‘ ball don’t lie.’ The Red Raiders were unfazed by the losses and adjusted accordingly, handing the Big 12’s lone remaining undefeated squad an 82-81 loss.
Level later responded to the tweet, clarifying that the focus should be on the Red Raiders and the incredible task that the group accomplished, saying, “I’m uncomfortable being a part of the story as I don’t want to take away from anything that Grant and his kids pulled off but man, I just had a really hard time with multiple ejections in such a big game when this league is trying to promote hoops. I know most agreed.”
With the win, Texas Tech advanced to 8-2 in league play, one game back of the conference-leading Cougars and Arizona Wildcats, who sit at 9-1.
