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Texas Tech basketball: Kentucky loss felt eerily similar to National Title Game

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - JANUARY 25: Guard Kyler Edwards #0 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders puts his towel over his head while he's comforted by guard Terrence Shannon Jr. #1 after the college basketball game against the Kentucky Wildcats on January 25, 2020 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - JANUARY 25: Guard Kyler Edwards #0 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders puts his towel over his head while he's comforted by guard Terrence Shannon Jr. #1 after the college basketball game against the Kentucky Wildcats on January 25, 2020 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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Guard Davide Moretti #25 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shakes hands with head coach John Calipari of the Kentucky Wildcats  (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
Guard Davide Moretti #25 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shakes hands with head coach John Calipari of the Kentucky Wildcats  (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

Davide Moretti was involved in officiating chaos in both games

You’ll have to forgive Davide Moretti if he has come to develop a disdain for referees.  That’s because Saturday was the second time in less than a calendar year that he’s been at the center of officiating chaos that impacted marquee games.

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We all remember the national title game when he and Virginia’s Kyle Guy and Hunter were chasing down a loose ball.  The call on the court gave the ball to Tech but upon review, the decision was reversed as the referees somehow decided that Moretti was the last to touch the ball despite the fact that it was Hunter who knocked it out of Moretti’s hands and out of bounds.

The refs apparently could tell that the last molecule of skin on Moretti’s pinky finger was the last piece of human flesh to touch the ball in bounds.  It certainly wasn’t a conclusive replay and should not have been enough to overrule the call on the court.

Oh, then there was the fact that in the scramble for the ball, Guy both held onto Moretti’s arm and then made contact with Moretti’s midsection in instances when a foul would have been justified but none was called.  That proved to be the turning point in the title game as it gave the ball back to UVA with a two-point lead and just 1:06 to play.  They would then hit two free throws on the ensuing possession to take control.

Saturday, Moretti was again in the middle of an officiating kerfuffle.  Trailing 64-63, he took a handoff from Holyfield and was plowed into by Hagans.

But somehow, the referees couldn’t agree on who to send to the line and initially put Holyfield there, much to the dismay of Beard and the crowd.  After a rather lengthy review, they made the right decision and awarded the shots to Moretti.  Ironically though, the 91% free-throw shooter missed his first attempt.

It isn’t hard to believe that the long wait between the foul and the first free-throw, during which time Moretti was adamantly lobbying the refs for the shots, was akin to icing a kicker in football.  At that moment, the game was at its most tense and the atmosphere of anger in the arena was not necessarily conducive to concentration.

There’s no question that Moretti will tell anyone that he has to make that first shot regardless.  But think about how much more difficult that shot became after he had to go through the arguments with the refs to get the shots he deserved then had to sit there and think about the magnitude of the moment for longer than he normally would prior to a regular set of foul shots.

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Moretti seems to be the type of player that always finds himself in the middle of game-defining moments.  That was the case in both the Virginia and Kentucky games and in both of those instances, officiating blunders cost he and the Red Raiders.

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