Texas Tech basketball: Questions mount about Khavon Moore’s future

Freshman Khavon Moore did not travel with the Texas Tech basketball team to Oklahoma on Saturday raising more questions about his standing with the program.

Though the Texas Tech basketball team picked up a key road win Saturday against Oklahoma, a player who was not even in the arena has been perhaps the biggest topic of conversation about the Red Raiders’ trip to Norman.  True freshman Khavon Moore, the highest-ranked player to ever play for Texas Tech was not with the team this weekend leaving many to wonder if he remains in good standing with the program.

Chris Beard did not make a statement about Moore’s status when asked about why the No. 54 overall player in the class of 2018 remained in Lubbock.  Though he did tell Carlos Silva Jr. of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that the team would make a statement in “the next couple of days”.

The issue seems to revolve around a difference in opinion between Moore (and likely people close to him who have his ear) and the Texas Tech coaching staff as to how to handle the 6-foot-8 forward’s continued recovery from a broken leg suffered in January 2018.

For most of the season, it was assumed that Moore would redshirt but that all changed when he played two minutes in the first half of Texas Tech’s January 16th game against Iowa State.  He accumulated no stats and looked understandably overwhelmed but just seeing him on the floor caused Red Raider fans to salivate at the thought of the former 4-star recruit being added to this year’s team in time to help make a push in the Big 12 race.

But since, Moore has not appeared in another game.  His brief showing against Iowa State came exactly one year to the day that he suffered his gruesome injury making it seem like his cameo appearance was a symbolic gesture and sign of good faith by Chris Beard who understood how hard Moore has worked to rehabilitate over the last twelve months.

And in fact, Beard has hinted at the possibility of Moore still being granted a medical redshirt after this season.  But for that to happen, he likely would have to sit out the remainder of the year, and that is something it appears he does not wish to do.

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Hindsight is starting to show that giving Moore some run against the Cyclones may not have been the best decision.  Over the course of the past month, Tech fans have been clambering to see him play meaningful minutes in the hope that he could be an offensive spark for a team that has struggled at times to score.

Unfortunately, the situation has seemingly escalated in the past two weeks when Moore did not see the court in three-consecutive blow-outs (wins over TCU and West Virginia and a loss at Kansas).  And not surprisingly, the teenager took to Twitter to voice his concerns.

In a February 5th Tweet (which came just one day after Tech’s 31-point win over West Virginia in Lubbock), Moore said that he was “100% healthy” and “waiting on [his] opportunity”.  Since then, the Tweet has been deleted but the damage had already been done.

Two days later, Beard told the media that the program had “just handled that” and referred to the comments as a “mistake”.  So obviously, it seems like Beard’s punishment was to keep Moore from joining his teammates in Norman.

Now we wait to see what the status of the bell cow of last year’s recruiting class is.  When 100% healthy and in basketball shape, Moore could fill a key role on this team, especially next season.

Most expect the Red Raiders to lose sophomore forward and leading scorer Jarrett Culver to the NBA Draft this summer meaning that four of the five starters on this season’s team will be gone after March.  What’s more, there remains a very real possibility that sophomore guard Davide Moretti could decide to play professionally in Europe (where his father is a head coach) next year.

Moore is a skilled ball-handler, passer and creator who has the length to be a plus defender and an effective rebounder.  He could be a potential replacement to fill the shoes of Culver who also leads the team in assists and rebounds per game.

Fortunately, Tech has a stellar recruiting class headed to Lubbock next year.  6-foot-5 guard Jahmius Ramsey from Duncanville is the No. 30 player in the nation which will make him the highest-ranked player to ever suit up for the Red Raiders.

He will join JUCO preseason player of the year Khalid Thomas (a skilled 6-foot-9 forward), 7-footer Russell Tchewa, 3-star guard Kevin McCullar and Russian national Andrei Savrasov (the latter two of which are already on campus and working out with the team) to form the best signing class in program history.

Also, do not be surprised to see Tech add more talent for next year.  4-star guard Damion Baugh from Memphis has Tech in his top three schools along with Memphis and TCU and should be making his decision soon.  And being as Texas Tech does not currently have any juniors on the roster, it should be expected that Beard will look to bring in at least one graduate transfer this summer to provide senior leadership as he did with Matt Mooney and Tariq Owens last summer.

However, keeping Moore would still be in Tech’s best interest from a basketball perspective.  And Beard has certainly had experience in helping guide players through turbulent situations as he did with Brandone Francis, who was once the only player on the roster forced to live in the campus dorms as he sat out two years ago after transferring from Florida.

Certainly, Beard knows what is best for the Texas Tech basketball program and he has built up enough equity with Red Raider fans to have everyone’s complete trust.  But until we know for certain the status of Khavon Moore, this story is going to be nearly as fascinating as what takes place on the court.