Texas Tech basketball: The all-time Chris Beard era team

The reserve guards

Zhaire Smith

Matt Mooney

Jahmi’us Ramsey

Any team that could bring two likely one-and-done first-round NBA Draft picks off the bench would have a wealth of riches and that’s exactly what the all-Beard team would enjoy.  With Zhaire Smith, Matt Mooney, and Jahmi’us Ramsey as backups, the amount of firepower and defensive ability Beard could count on from his reserve guards would be unfair.

You could make the case that Smith, a 6-foot-5 do-it-all player, who was the program’s first one-and-done NBA Draft pick in 2018, could start for this team at the shooting guard.  But bringing him off the bench is what might make more sense because he could spell almost any player in the starting five given his ability to guard any spot on the floor thanks to a vertical leap unlike any we’ve seen in Lubbock.

In his lone year as a Red Raider, Smith was able to average 11.8 points, 5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game.  But it was his defensive ability that made his so invaluable as he was asked to guard anyone from the opposing point guard to players four or five inches taller than he was.

Unexpectedly, Matt Mooney also proved to be a lock-down defensive guard in his lone season as a Red Raider, 2018-19.  The grad transfer from South Dakota averaged 11.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.8 steals per game while coming up with 70 steals in total, the second-most in a single season in Tech history.

When Mooney came to Tech, he was known as a deadly outside shooter and natural scorer but not as a defensive presence.  But in Lubbock, the 6-foot-3 guard learned how to use his abnormally long wingspan to harass opposing ball handlers and he became one of the top defenders in the nation.

Finally, we would see Beard have a15-point-per game scorer and possible 2020 NBA Draft pick Jahmi’us Ramsey at the ready should his team need some scoring off the bench.  Just the third Red Raider to ever lead Tech in scoring for a season, he displayed a lethal outside shot hitting 42.6% of his 3-point attempts despite not being known as a long-range shooter in high school.