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

Davide Moretti misses another last-minute free throw vs. Kentucky

You hate to pile on Davide Moretti but his second appearance on this list was another missed free throw in the final minute of a critical game when he bricked the first of two attempts in the final seconds of regulation against Kentucky.  Like the loss to DePaul, this was a tense game that Tech had its chances of winning before falling in OT and both times, Moretti was the scapegoat.

But I will always contend that in the Kentucky game, the incompetence of the officiating crew contributed to Moretti’s miss.  That’s because Moretti had to wait at least a full minute before getting to shoot his first free throw.

On the play, Moro took a handoff from T.J. Holyfield.  After he clearly had the ball in his hands, he was hacked by the defender but for some reason, the officials initially sent Holyfield to the line.

Being a 73% free-throw shooter, Holyfield wasn’t a liability but everyone on the Red Raider side of the equation vociferously lobbied for Moretti to be awarded the shots.  That included Moretti himself, who spent much of the time during which the officials reviewed the play on the sideline monitor pleading his case.

It’s not crazy to think that the needless spike in his heart rate after not being initially given the shots as well as the fact that he had to wait over a minute before he got to shoot were factors in his missed free throw because both interrupted his normal routine.  Thankfully, he was able to get the second shot to fall because it tied the game.

But this game was full of fluky moments like the Kentucky half-court heave that connected at the end of the first half.  All night, it seemed like Tech was fighting uphill and couldn’t catch a break, even in their own arena.

Still, the Red Raiders had their shot to win and we all feel rather confident when Moretti is at the line in key situations as he was that night.  However, twice this year, he wasn’t able to come through in those moments and it prevented his team from picking up two wins that would have changed the way we viewed this past season.