Wreck'Em Red
Fansided

Texas Tech basketball: The defining moments of the 2019-20 season

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - JANUARY 29: A video is played and flames shoot up as the Texas Tech Red Raiders are introduced before the college basketball game against the West Virginia Mountaineers on January 29, 2020 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - JANUARY 29: A video is played and flames shoot up as the Texas Tech Red Raiders are introduced before the college basketball game against the West Virginia Mountaineers on January 29, 2020 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 7
Next
Davide Moretti #25 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shoots a lay up in the first half against Charlie Moore #11 of the DePaul Blue Demons (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
Davide Moretti #25 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shoots a lay up in the first half against Charlie Moore #11 of the DePaul Blue Demons (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /

Davide Moretti misses late free throw vs. DePaul

Without Ramsey, Tech played a gutty slugfest of a game against DePaul in the season’s first true road game on another team’s campus.  Facing a Blue Demon team that was 8-0 at the time and which would jump into the rankings after downing Tech, the Red Raiders looked poised to secure an impressive win in the final minute.

Leading 52-50, Tech faced a frantic full-court press from the home team.  Ultimately, the Red Raiders did exactly what Chris Beard and the rest of us wanted and got the ball to Davide Moretti, one of the best free-throw shooters in the nation.  At that point of the season, the junior had gone 24-24 from the line.

So of course, he missed his second of the two free throws leaving just enough time for DePaul to hit a game-tying three at the other end.  One has to wonder if he let his concentration lapse just a bit after making the first free throw to guarantee that his team would not lose in regulation.

Overall, that has to be a game Moretti would like to forget, even prior to the free-throw miss.  He was just 1-10 from the field and 1-4 from 3-point range while turning the ball over five times before fouling out in OT.

It’s unfair to pin this loss entirely on his shoulders though.  Afterall, T.J. Holyfield went without a point and pulled down just two rebounds in 28 minutes while Chris Clarke managed just four points in 43 minutes.

Still, Moretti’s miss will forever be the defining moment of this game because when there was an opportunity for Tech to put the contest on ice, he was unable to come through despite being at the place on the court where he’s most comfortable.  Given that DePaul would finish the season going just 8-16 the rest of the way, this is a game that proved to be one of the more unacceptable losses in the 2019-20 season.  And it’s a loss that should not have happened.

Home/Texas Tech Basketball