Texas Tech Basketball Lands 4-Star Forward Khavon Moore

The Texas Tech basketball team received good news on Monday when 4-star 2018 forward Khavon Moore verbally committed to the Red Raiders.

Though the Texas Tech basketball team fell short Saturday against Kansas, Chris Beard and his staff were able to use the weekend’s festivities to land perhaps the best high school recruit in program history.  4-star forward Khavon Moore, who was in town this weekend for an official visit, verbally committed to the Red Raiders on Monday.

The significance of this pickup cannot be understated.  The Georgia native is rated as the No. 44 player in the nation and ninth-best small forward by Rivals.com.

In addition to Texas Tech, Moore had scholarship offers from  Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, UCONN, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Maryland, NC State, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, UCLA, USC, Arizona, Wisconsin and Texas.

Moore has taken an official visit to Mercer and had planned to take another to Oklahoma but after experiencing Texas Tech basketball in person this weekend, he pulled the trigger and committed to the Red Raiders.

"“After the official visit and seeing everything I felt like it’s the perfect fit,” Moore told ESPN following his commitment.  And indeed, he fills a huge need for next year’s team."

Tech will lose forwards Niem Stevenson, Justin Gray and Zach Smith along with guard Keenan Evans following this season.  The 6-foot-8, 185-pound forward’s game is versatile enough to allow Chris Beard to employ Moore all over the court.

It is not a stretch to suggest that Moore will be one of the three or four best players on the team the moment he steps on campus (that is once his broken leg, suffered approximately a month ago, heals).  He has the height of Zach Smith, ball handling skills of Jarret Culver, a more fluid jump shot than any forward on the roster and tons of athleticism.

"The website 247Sports.com has this scouting report: “Moore, who is a long and athletic forward, showed improved versatility over the summer playing with Nike Team Florida. At 6-foot-8 he has the ability to play on the wing or inside, and has a unique talent to pass and handle as well as shoot in the mid-range for a player with his height.”"

The latest buzzword in describing basketball players is “position-less” and that term is a perfect description of Moore.  He can play 1 through 4 on the court and will likely be used to handle the ball quite a bit.  Players with his skill set make Chris Beard’s motion offense deadly because they force matchup problems when opposing teams switch on ball screens.

Moore is the third verbal commitment in the 2018 class.  He is joined by 6-5, 4-star JUCO forward Deshawn Corprew from South Plains JC in Levelland and 6-foot-5, 3-star forward Kyler Edwards from Henderson, Nevada.

The Red Raiders are far from finished when it comes to the 2018 class.  Tech will need to replace five significant players from the current roster so there could still be two or three additions to the current class.  Look for Beard to now focus his search on finding a center to replace the departing Tommy Hamilton.

That search could lead to the JUCO ranks or may even include a graduate transfer from another program.  Either way, the future of the Texas Tech basketball program is bright.