Texas Tech basketball: Moretti’s 17 points lead Red Raiders over MVSU

The Texas Tech basketball team moved to 2-0 on the season beating Mississippi Valley State 84-52 behind 17 points from Davide Moretti.

One of the biggest issues this year’s Texas Tech basketball team must address is how to replace the loss of six of the team’s top eight scorers from last season.  On Friday night, sophomore guard David Moretti showed that he may be capable of being a huge part of the solution.

The native of Italy poured in a career-high 17 points including five three-pointers leading the Red Raiders to an 84-52 win over Mississippi Valley State.  Moretti was one of three Red Raiders in double-figures as Jarrett Culver added 12 points and JUCO transfer DeShawn Corprew scored 11 off the bench.

The Red Raiders jumped out to a 13-2 lead before the first media timeout and were never threatened by a Delta Devils team coming off a 106-37 loss to Nebraska on Tuesday to open their season.  Moretti did not score in that opening salvo but he quickly got in on the action.

He would hit four three-pointers in the final 15 minutes of the first half, including one with just five seconds to go to put Tech up 43-20 at the break.  It was the second-straight encouraging performance from the sharpshooter this season after he scored nine points in Tuesday’s season-opener.

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Overall, the Red Raiders shot 50% from the field and 42.1% from deep (8-19) in topping the 80-point mark for the second time in as many games on the young season.  In all, nine Red Raiders scored for head coach Chris Beard who got encouraging performances from some young role players.

Freshman guard Kyler Edwards had nine points and three rebounds in 24 minutes of action.  He was one of the first men to come off the bench and he continues to show that he will play an important role this year.

Likewise, backup forward Malik Ondigo turned in a solid performance off the bench.  The 6-foot-10 sophomore had eight points and ten rebounds in his best outing as a Red Raider.  He will need to continue his development this year because he will be counted on to play significant minutes in the post behind starting forwards Tariq Owens and Norense Odiase.

Defensively, Beard’s team turned in another smothering effort.  The Red Raiders held MVSU to just 33% shooting on the night while forcing 12 turnovers.

The Delta Devils did hit 9 of 23 shots from long range but that was far too little for the overmatched visitors who play five-consecutive road games to begin the season.

As for Moretti, his previous career-high was 14 points in a 90-54 win over Florida Atlantic last season.  And for a while, it looked like he might not top that mark.

Going scoreless for the first 15 minutes of the second half, Moretti finally hit his final three with 4:58 to go securing the career-high.  It was a promising showing from a player who finished last season on a high note scoring seven points in both the Sweet 16 win over Purdue and the Elite 8 loss to Villanova.

Texas Tech needs to see more of this out of the point guard who spent his summer playing for team Italy in the FIBA under-20 European Championships.  Moretti was one of the stars of the event averaging 11.8 points per game helping his confidence grow tremendously.  Now, the Red Raiders hope that growth continues in Lubbock as it did Friday night.