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Texas Tech basketball: Critical moments in Tuesday’s victory at KSU

By Matthew Conner

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 27: Davide Moretti #25 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shoots the ball during a practice session ahead of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament West Regional at Honda Center on March 27, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 27: Davide Moretti #25 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shoots the ball during a practice session ahead of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament West Regional at Honda Center on March 27, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images) /
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Texas Tech finished the 1st half with a 5-2 run

Though the Red Raiders’ 5-2 spurt to close out the first half wasn’t where this game was won, it was a key moment.  That’s because it allowed Chris Beard’s team to head into the locker room with a multi-score lead after a first half of play that they dominated at times.

Don’t forget that the Tech lead was 32-17 with 4:23 to play in the half.  At that point, it looked like the Red Raiders might blow KSU out of their own building.  But then, they instantly started to do their best impression of the Cavazos Jr. High 7th-grade developmental team.

Four straight turnovers and four fouls let KSU cut into the lead and file the deficit down to just four points at 32-28 in the span of about three minutes.  That was the first time that the home crowd actually started to believe in their team and it brought wat few KSU fans there were into the equation.

But Davide Moretti hit a big 3-pointer to break the 11-0 KSU run.  He then came up with a steal on the ensuing Wildcat possession and he turned that into a layup for Edwards on the other end. Though KSU got the final points of the half on a pair of free throws, they had lost what momentum they had been able to seize in their first true run of the game and they went to the intermission trailing a team that they knew they were not expected to beat.

The end of the first half is a time that every coach in the nation points to as a critical juncture in every game.  It is also a time when this Red Raider team has been taken advantage of by opponents.

Thus, ending the first half in Manhattan with a nice flurry was a key.  Had Tech gone into the break with just a one-score lead, or heaven-forbid trailing, they could have been rather disillusioned by the fact that they had let a team that they had dominated off the mat.

That didn’t happen because of Moretti’s work in the final minute of play.  That’s what a leader needs to do for his team and it is a time when he has to take over more frequently in future games.

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