Texas Tech basketball: With Davide Moretti turning pro, 3-point shooting now a concern

Now that it is being reported that Davide Moretti is going to play professionally in Italy, the Texas Tech basketball team suddenly finds itself short on 3-point shooting.

Saturday, Texas Tech basketball fans were disappointed but not surprised to learn that guard Davide Moretti has decided to forego his senior year to play professionally in his native Italy.  That leaves the Red Raiders rather short on 3-point shooting.

Now, it appears that Tech will lose its top two outside shooters from last season with Jahmi’us Ramsey having entered his name in the NBA Draft pool.  Though Ramsey has not hired an agent thus retaining the right to return for his sophomore season, most industry insiders are expecting him to remain in the Draft.

Last season, Moretti and Ramsey combined to average 4.4 made 3-pointers per game with each hitting 2.2 per contest.  As a team, the Red Raiders made 7.2 shots from behind the arc each game so it is so easy to see how much the departures of Moro and Ramsey are going to hurt.

Making a combined 127 shots from deep, Moretti (who made 67 3-pointers) and Ramsey were responsible for 56.6% of the 224 shots their team made from downtown.  When you then factor in the 15 3-pointers senior T.J. Holyfield added, Tech is faced with replacing three of the four players on last season’s team that made double-digit shots from deep.

The only player set to return who would be considered a three-point threat is Kyler Edwards.  As a sophomore, he made 48 attempts from 3-point range.  But his shooting percentage from outside dropped from 44.9% as a freshman to just 32.2% as a sophomore, due in large part to an increased role in the offense as he was asked to be more than just a spot-up shooter.

Therein lies a concern for the Red Raiders.  Of the five most accurate 3-point shooters from this past season’s team, only one remains with the program and that is Avery Behson, who shot 39.1% from behind the arc but attempted only 23 shots.

Thus, the Red Raiders are suddenly in dire need of some outside shooting.  That’s why Beard may have been so active in the transfer portal in recent days.

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One name that Texas Tech fans have been rather intrigued by is Mac McClung.  The Georgetown transfer is a dynamic athlete and scorer who led the Hoyas in scoring at 15.7 points per game but he shot just 32.3% from 3-point range last year.  While that was a serious improvement from his 27.2% shooting as a freshman, it is a far cry from what either Ramsey (42.6%) or Moretti (38.3%) put up in 2019-20.

On the other hand, his 2.2 makes per game equaled what Ramsey and Moro averaged this season.  But it took him 6.8 attempts to reach that mark, over one shot more per game than either of Tech’s top two shooters attempted.

Meanwhile, another transfer option that Tech has been tied to is Both Gatch, who just completed his sophomore year at Utah.  But he too is not a great outside shooter.

This season, he shot just 25% from deep and made a mere 1.1 3-pointers per game.  As a freshman, he was actually better in that regard as he shot a more respectable 31.6% from deep.

An intriguing target to keep an eye on might be JUCO guard El Ellis.  As a freshman this year, he shot 40.3% from deep and made 52 shots from long-range.  Those are the types of numbers that would make Texas Tech basketball fans feel more comfortable were he to join the program.

Now that Moretti has followed Ramsey’s path and left school early for the professional ranks, Edwards is the only player on the roster who is a proven threat from deep.  And he’s coming off a year that saw him take a step back in that aspect of the game.

In addition, none of the three incoming freshmen, Nimari Burnett, Micah Peavy, or Chibuzo Agbo Jr. are known to be deadly shooters from behind the arc.  Of course, neither was Ramsey though when he signed with Beard and he proved to be one of the best shooters in the Big 12 in his first season.

Thus, there is no reason to panic right now as Beard still has plenty of time to find some 3-point offense.  But with Moretti and Rasmey both departing, what once looked like a nearly flawless collection of talent now has a gaping hole that must be filled.