Texas Tech Basketball: Impact of Grad Transfer Matt Mooney Arriving to Lubbock

Texas Tech Basketball got some great news with the pickup of grad transfer Matt Mooney from South Dakota.

After making the Elite Eight for the first time in program history this past season, Texas Tech is riding unprecedented momentum for themselves. But that’s the easy part. Now the hard part is going to be maintaining that positivity.

That’ll be easier said than done based on who’s leaving the team. Five of the team’s top eight scorers have graduated, including Keenan Evans, who averaged 17.6 ppg. The biggest loss came via the NBA Draft which is where freshman wing Zhaire Smith will be headed. The multidimensional scorer and defender will be heavily missed on both ends of the court.

Rising sophomore Jarrett Culver does return, and he has All-Big 12 potential. He’ll be paired with Smith’s likely replacement in Khavon Moore, a top-50 ranked recruit in the 2018 class. Also coming is 6’5 forward Deshawn Corprew, one of the top Junior College players in the country. Guard Brandone Francis will be one of the senior leaders on the team next year.

On the frontline, Tariq Owens will provide a shot blocking presence at the center position. The grad transfer from St. John’s was ranked near the top in the country in blocked shots. Texas Tech appears to be in a good spot in the frontcourt, but replacing Evans at the point position is the most pressing need.

They seem to have found their answer in Matt Mooney, considered the best available grad transfer. He started out his career at Air Force, before he transferred to South Dakota for an expanded role. The former Coyote took advantage of it, averaging 18.7 ppg and 3.1 apg this past season – similar to Evans.

Both Mooney and Evans have comparable games, with each able to get to the free throw line (and make it as well) at a good rate while being a threat to make it from three-point range. The newest ball handler fills a need at the point position, while seemingly fitting head coach Chris Beard’s system.

The best thing about this for Mooney is that he won’t have to deal with the best point guards in the country after three of them (Jevon Carter, Trae Young, Devonte’ Graham) moved on to the pros.

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Texas Tech finished in second place in the Big 12 last season. And although they lost a good amount of talent from the 2017-18 basketball season, the Red Raiders did a great job of gathering the pieces back together. Now let’s see how it all fits chemistry-wise.