Texas Tech basketball: Senior night provided unforgettable moments
Matt Mooney carries the offense
Facing the loss of six of last season’s top eight scorers, Chris Beard knew that he had to find some extra offense for this team last summer. Enter Matt Mooney, who averaged over 17 points per game in his previous two seasons at South Dakota.
And on Monday night, Mooney was the Red Raiders’ offensive catalyst. Though Jarrett Culver outscored Mooney by one point (16-15) to lead the team, the senior was the Red Raiders’ best offensive weapon in his final home game.
Eleven of Mooney’s points came in the first half as Tech built a nine-point halftime lead. His first bucket of the night came with Tech up 11-7 at the 12:10 mark of the first half.
Over the next ten minutes, Mooney would nail five of six shots as the Red Raiders went on a 21-6 run to take a 32-17 lead. And those points were critical considering that Culver scored just four in the opening twenty minutes.
It was the fifth time during Tech’s 8-game winning streak that Mooney has hit double-digits on the scoreboard. Whats more, he’s averaging 11.8 points per game since back-to-back games of two points against Baylor and Kansas State in mid-January.
In addition, he has proven to be Tech’s best on-ball defender. He is averaging 1.6 steals per game, second in the Big 12 behind Barry Brown of Kansas State.
At times this season, Tech fans wondered if Mooney was going to be capable of being the type of offensive force that most expected him to be as one of the top graduate transfers in the nation. And there was a stretch in January where his play did nothing to quell those concerns as he failed to hit double-digits in four of five games.
But the one productive game in that stretch was a 22-point explosion against Texas in Austin. And after Monday’s strong game, he’s now averaging 18.5 points against the Longhorns. There is certainly no better way to endear oneself to Red Raider fans than to stick it to UT and that is exactly what Matt Mooney did on senior night.