Texas Tech basketball: Davide Moretti’s best games of 2019-20

vs. WVU 25 pts, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 rebound

When an unlikely shootout erupted between the Red Raiders and Mountaineers in Lubbock, Moretti was the fastest gun in the arena.  In the 89-81 Tech victory, he had a team-high 25 points to go along with a pair of assists, a pair of steals, and a rebound.

It was his season-high for points and by shooting 6-10 from the floor, he had his best field goal percentage (60%) for a game in which he attempted at least ten shots.  He was also 4-5 from 3-point range as part of a Red Raider attack that was 11-17 overall from behind the arc.

Also, don’t forget that this was the game in which the Big 12 officiating crew decided to try to set an all-time record for fouls called in a game.  The two teams combined for 73 free-throw attempts further magnifying the ever-important aspect of the game that is free-throw shooting.

That night, Moretti was 9-9 at the line.  He and Shannon combined to go 31-33 in that regard, which was massive given how the game was called.

Interestingly, this was one of only two games in which Moretti fouled out this past season.  The other came in December’s OT loss at DePaul (a game Moretti would love to forget given that his missed free throw in the closing minute allowed DePaul to tie the game at the end of regulation).

While this was his best scoring game of the year, it sits at No. 2 because it came on a night when everyone in the gym was scoring.  This was a game that Moretti did not have to carry his team because both Shannon and Ramsey also had over 20 points.

However, Tech needed everything it got from all three players because West Virginia would not go away.  His last five points of the night came consecutively for his team and were important because when he drained a 3-pointer with 7:20 to play, WVU had crept to within 75-69.  Two minutes later, he would cap his scoring with a pair of free throws to restore a double-digit lead for Tech and squash the Mountaineer comeback attempt.

West Virginia is always going to be one of the most physical teams in the Big 12 because they have the philosophy of forcing the officials to decide whether or not to call a foul on every possession, knowing that the refs will have to let some things slide that they wouldn’t in other games.  So when Moretti withstood that tactic and played a dominant game against a team that wanted to push him around, it was a statement about the type of grit and determination he possesses.