Texas Tech Basketball In Top 5 For Matt Mooney
Talented forward Matt Mooney has announced his top 5 schools and Texas Tech remains in the running for the graduate transfer.
So much for the notion that Chris Beard would spend his spring relaxing and reflecting on the historic 2017-18 Texas Tech basketball season as he indicated during the season that he might. Since the moment the season ended, Beard has been relentless in his pursuit of players that could help his team make another deep run next season.
One of the top priorities for Beard has been South Dakota graduate transfer Matt Mooney. It now appears that Beard’s hard work is paying off as Mooney lists Texas Tech in his top five schools.
South Dakota grad transfer Matt Mooney is down to Creighton, Northwestern, Texas Tech, Utah State and Arizona State, he tells ESPN.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) April 17, 2018
One of the best available grad transfers. 18.7 PPG this past season. @MoonSwag13
Mooney is one of the most coveted prized in this season’s grad transfer sweepstakes. In addition to his final five schools, he was courted by Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, TCU and Missouri among others.
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It is easy to see why. Last season, Mooney put up 18.7 points per game en route to earning first-team all-Summit Conference honors for a second-consecutive season.
But when Utah State hired South Dakota’s head coach Craig Smith away from the Coyotes, Mooney’s departure for greener pastures was expected. Now, the 6-foot-3 guard/forward is planning to decide on a third college destination (he originally chose Air Force out of high school) and Texas Tech looks to be the favorite.
Tech was the only school on Mooney’s top 5 list to advance in the NCAA Tournament (Northwestern and Utah State did not make the field of 68) and would seem to offer him the opportunity to play for a contender in a high-profile conference.
Texas Tech is looking for reinforcements for next season, especially in the scoring department. Facing life without Keenan Evans’ 17.6 points per game and possibly the additional loss of Zhaire Smith and his 11.3 points per game, Texas Tech needs to be proactive when assembling next year’s roster.
Mooney would be a great fit because he is not only a great scorer but he is a dangerous outside shooter, something the Red Raiders need to add. Last year, Mooney made 2.2 threes per game while shooting 35% from deep.
In each of the past two seasons, he hit 76 shots from beyond the arc. Last season, Jarrett Culver led Texas Tech with 55 made threes and Keenan Evans was second with 48.
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Texas Tech is a hot name in the college basketball world and it appears that Chris Beard is close to parlaying the Red Raiders’ Elite 8 run into success on the recruiting trail once again.