Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders end 22-game losing streak in Austin

Behind 22 points from senior Matt Mooney, the Texas Tech basketball team finally put an end to its 22-game losing streak in Austin by beating the Longhorns 68-62.

Chris Beard has done it again. The man who has made a habit of pulling off feats rarely (if ever) accomplished by any Texas Tech basketball coach led his team to a win in Austin for the first time since 1996.

Senior guard Matt Mooney led the Red Raiders with 22 points, a season-high, and three more Red Raiders scored in double-digits as Tech fought and clawed its way to a 68-62 win over Texas Saturday at the Frank Erwin Center. The last time the Red Raiders left the state capital with a victory, James Dickey was roaming the sidelines for a team that was destined for the Sweet 16 while a 22-year-old Chris Beard was an assistant coach at Incarnate Word.

But Beard has made a habit of doing what other Texas Tech basketball coaches have never done. Last year, he took the Red Raiders to the Elite 8 for the first time while also guiding his team the first road win at Kansas in Texas Tech history and this year, his team picked up the program’s first-ever win at West Virginia as part of a 4-0 start to Big 12 play.

Though Beard is not the first Red Raider coach to win in Austin, he is the first to do so in the lifespan of the majority of his roster. The only players alive when Tech last beat UT on the road were the four seniors, Mooney, Tariq Owens, Norense Odiase and Brandone Francis.

But finding a way to overcome the Austin voodoo proved to be a challenge. Tech had to once again rally from a halftime deficit after a poor shooting first half led to a 30-26 Longhorn lead at intermission.

It was the fifth time this year and the third time in four Big 12 games that the Red Raiders have trailed after twenty minutes. Fortunately, Tech is 5-0 in those games claiming comeback wins over USC, Memphis, West Virginia and Oklahoma in the four previous such instances.

Mooney and sophomore guard Davide Moretti caught fire in the second half. Back-to-back Mooney 3-pointers to begin the second half put Tech up 32-30 as the grad transfer scored eight of his team’s first ten points after the break.

Moretti then did his part by hitting a three-pointer and knocking home a free throw to convert a 4-point play on Tech’s next possession to push the lead to 40-35. And the Red Raiders needed big days from their second and third scoring options because Jarrett Culver struggled for much of the afternoon.

With only 14 points, the Lubbock native was held to five points below his season average. After a hot start that saw him score six points in the first ten minutes of the game, Culver disappeared offensively not scoring again until the 13:06 mark of the second half.

As expected, the pride of Coronado High School was the focus of the Texas defense which swarmed to the ball every time it was in his hands. Culver also turned the ball over a team-high four times which was nearly half of the team’s nine giveaways.

But as is the case with every player Beard puts on the floor, Culver contributed in other ways. He equaled his season-high with six assists while pulling down a team-best nine rebounds while also blocking two shots.

Fortunately, the Red Raiders found some extra offense from its secondary scorers. In addition to Mooney’s big day, the Red Raiders got 13 points from Moretti (his fourth-consecutive Big 12 game in double-digits) and 12 from senior center Tariq Owens who also had four blocked shots.

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But even as Mooney and Moretti got hot, Texas was able to stay in the game thanks to timely 3-point shooting. The Horns hit 7-20 from long-range against the nation’s best team at defending the 3-point line.

The Red Raiders entered the game holding opponents to just 24.8% from behind the arc but thanks to the work of Jase Fabres and Kerwin Roach, who combined to go 5-11 from long-range, the Horns shot 35% on the afternoon.

Roach continued his habit of being a thorn in the Red Raiders’ side. After scoring twenty points in both regular season meetings with Texas Tech last year, the senior guard from Houston led his team with 17 points Saturday.

Febres added 12 points and freshman big man Jaxon Hayes had 15 as the only two Longhorns to join Roach in double-digits. As a team, UT shot 40.5% joining West Virginia and USC as the only teams to shoot over 40% from the field against the Red Raiders this year.

But the Tech defense came up with timely plays in the form of seven blocks and six steals helping to ensure that the program could finally put its Travis County blues to rest. With the win Tech remains the only unbeaten team in the Big 12 and moves to 2-0 on the road in league play putting the team just one road win shy of matching the total from Chris Beard’s first two full seasons.

Next. Texas Tech must start to win Big 12 road games. dark

Tech returns to Lubbock Wednesday night to take on an Iowa State team that is suddenly reeling after losing back-to-back games including Saturday’s 58-57 home loss to Kansas State. It was a wild Saturday in the Big 12 that saw four of the five road teams pick up huge wins but no team in the conference picked up a more more meaningful win than the Red Raiders.

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