The Red Raiders remained the best defensive team in the conference
Let’s get the most obvious reason out of the way first. Texas Tech won the Big 12 title because it is the conference’s best defensive team. In the regular season, Tech led the Big 12 in scoring defense (58.6 p.p.g.), field goal percentage defense (36.8%, which is also best in the nation), 3-point field goal defense (29.9%), blocks (4.9 per game) and turnovers forced (484).
And I must admit, I did not expect this year’s team to surpass the defense played by last season’s team. Though we all knew Tariq Owens would be a key defensive addition (his program record for blocks in a season now sits at 75), it did not seem likely for a team having to replace fantastic defenders like Zhaire Smith, Justin Gray, Niem Stevenson and Zach Smith to be able to not only maintain its defensive dominance but to actually become stronger in that aspect of the game.
And no player was more of a surprise on the defensive end of the floor than Matt Mooney. He was brought to Lubbock last summer as a graduate transfer from South Dakota because of his ability to score. But while his scoring average dropped from 18.7 to 10.8 points per game, he reinvented himself as the Red Raiders’ best on-ball defender.
Mooney is second in the Big 12 in steals with 54 (1.7 per game). His incredibly quick hands and long arms make him hell for opposing ball-handlers to contend with. His numerous deflections not only set the tone for the Red Raider defense, they help to take the opposition out of rhythm when trying to run their offensive sets.
Last year, Zhaire Smith was Tech’s best on-ball defender because of his freakish athleticism. Mooney is not the same type of player because he lacks the explosive foot speed and lateral quickness of Smith. But he is arguably the smartest player on the court and his ability to know where the ball is going has proven to be almost telepathic as he has recorded a huge number of steals by intercepting passes.
It is fascinating to think about the fact that last summer, most people were worried about replacing all of the scoring that Tech lost but in bringing on two grad transfers in Owens and Mooney, Beard found two players that would prove to be the anchors of what would be arguably the best defense in the nation.