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Texas Tech basketball: The top games of Matt Mooney’s Red Raider career

By Matthew Conner

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: Matt Mooney #13 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders is introduced prior to the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game against the Virginia Cavaliers at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: Matt Mooney #13 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders is introduced prior to the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game against the Virginia Cavaliers at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images)
(Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images) /

Mooney’s big second half helps fuel comeback win over USC

In the season’s first true test, the Red Raiders got off to an atrocious start.  After a lethargic and sloppy first half, especially on the defensive end of the court, Tech trailed USC 32-23 at halftime of the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City.

But a different team emerged from the locker room and stormed past the Trojans for a 78-63 win.  A huge part of Tech’s 55-32 second-half advantage was Matt Mooney, who scored 15 of his 17 points in the final 20 minutes of the game.

In his first standout offensive performance for his new team, Mooney hit 6-12 shots including both of his 3-point attempts.  He also had five rebounds, four assists, and four steals as the Red Raiders moved to 4-0 on the season.

To begin Tech’s comeback, Mooney scored seven straight points for the Red Raiders to cut the Trojan lead to just 36-31.  During that span, he also came up with two steals, one of which led directly to his first basket of the second half.

Then, at the 13:52 mark, he drained a jumper to tie the game at 39-39.  That bucket was TEch’s first in a sequence that saw the teams trade scores on seven-consecutive possessions after which the Red Raiders trailed 46-44.

After a media timeout, Mooney drained a 3-pointer to put Tech back up by a point.  And down the stretch, he hit 3-4 free throws to help his team protect a double-digit cushion.   In all, the senior was a perfect 5-5 from the field in the Red Raiders’ second-half domination.

Coming into this game, Mooney had put up big numbers against other Power 5 programs while at South Dakota.  That included 31 against TCU and 23 against both Iowa and UCLA.  But still, Red Raider fans needed to see Matt Mooney take over a game with their own eyes and wearing their school’s colors.

Moonly also probably needed to have a big game against a quality opponent to help build his confidence in his ability to be a major contributor for a major conference team.  Early in the season, Mooney often looked like he was overthinking his game quite a bit as he tried to figure out what his role needed to be for Chris Beard’s team.

But against USC, he was in the zone in the second half and we got a glimpse of what type of player he could be.  It was tied for his third-highest scoring output of the season and showed everyone that the Red Raiders still had the necessary firepower to be a factor once again.

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