Texas Tech Basketball: Why Red Raiders can win the Big 12 in closing stretch
Red Raiders have the pieces but a challenging schedule
On the offensive side of the ball, the Red Raiders don’t light up the scoreboard the way they do on the defensive end. They score 72.6 points per game, but even that number is skewed by their non-conference slate where they scored over 75 points per game. Since the start of Big 12 play, they have scored just 70.9 per contest.
Chris Beard’s guard-oriented offense is led by a couple of sophomores, Jarrett Culver, who is a Player of the Year candidate and Davide Moretti. The 6-5 Culver leads the team in points, rebounds, and assists with 18, 6.3, and 3.6 respectively, while Moretti, the native of Bologna, Italy is second on the team in scoring averages 11 points per game, is the team’s leading three-point shooter at 45% and if he misses a free throw, it’s the lead story on the news in Lubbock, having missed only six all season.
Senior transfer Matt Mooney has been everything Beard hoped he would be when he landed him from South Dakota. Mooney does a little bit of everything for the Red Raiders averaging 10.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and a team-leading 1.7 steals. Patrolling the paint for Texas Tech is another senior, Tariq Owens, the 6-10 Owens is averaging nearly three blocks per game while adding 8.8 points and 5.2 rebounds.
The Red Raiders sit atop the Big 12 at 11-4, tied with Kansas State with three games remaining. The conference king, Kansas sits just one game back at 10-5, tied with Baylor. The road to the top for Baylor is a tough one as they have road games with Kansas State and Kansas, sandwiched around a game with Oklahoma State remaining.
The Jayhawks finish with the two Oklahoma schools on the road before welcoming Baylor to the Phogg for the season finale. Kansas State finishes with three teams fighting for their NCAA Tournament lives, in Baylor, Oklahoma, and TCU, while Texas Tech has TCU and Texas remaining and then finishes with Iowa State in Ames, a game that could decide the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament.
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With three games left, there is plenty left to be decided but don’t be surprised if Texas Tech is able to hold off the Kansas contingent and lock up that No. 1 seed.