For much of the conference season, Texas Tech basketball looked like a dark horse national championship contender. The Red Raiders are well-coached with Grant McCasland leading the way and have one of the best star duos in the nation in JT Toppin and Christian Anderson.

During a trip to Tempe to take on Arizona State, everything changed for McCasland and company. Late in the second half of what would end up being a stunning upset loss, Toppin went down with an ACL injury that has ended his season.

While this is a crushing blow for Texas Tech, the Red Raiders have been forced to pick up the pieces from that and move forward. They got a convincing win over Kansas State on Saturday, and followed that up with a strong 80-68 victory over Cincinnati on Tuesday night. After getting that win, McCasland discussed the challenge he gave to his team after losing the All-American big man for the rest of the season.

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“The guys' fight is right and their willingness to do what we're asking them to do is right,” McCasland said. “We just need more time and experience defensively. I’ve challenged those guards to go rebound way more because JT would gobble up a bunch, and now we’re going to have to do it more as a team than ever.”

Without the scoring punch of Toppin, Anderson picked up the slack on Tuesday night with a huge game. The star point guard finished with 31 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. He shot 11-for-19 from the field and knocked down three 3-pointers to carry the load for Texas Tech throughout the night.

Those 11 boards from Anderson are a big reason why the Red Raiders out-rebounded Cincinnati 40-24 even without Toppin in the middle.

If McCasland and company are still going to make a deep run in March like they are hoping for, rebounding efforts like this one from Anderson and the rest of the team are what it's going to take. As the team navigates life without its superstar, these are the kinds of wins that can help form an identity that can work in the postseason.