Texas Tech basketball: The best moments of Davide Moretti’s Red Raider career

A hustle play that perfectly illustrated Texas Tech’s mentality under Chris Beard

We will always think about Moretti as a brilliant outside shooter.  But make no mistake, he was not afraid of picking up a few floor burns as well.

One example came in January of 2019 when his hustle helped seal a victory over Kansas State.  In that game, Tech got out to a 17-3 lead only to play with its food the rest of the afternoon and let KSU close the gap to just two points after the break.

With Tech on the verge of putting the game away, Moretti provided the spark that was needed.  The Red Raiders were ahead 53-44 with 1:38 to play and were applying full-court pressure on the Wildcats to burn some clock.

Trailing the ballhandler, Cartier Diarra (file that name away for later), Moretti well fully horizontal to knock the ball away.  And when Diarra corraled the ball and tried to head back up the court, Moro lunged at the ball again and knocked it to Culver, who was fouled. (To see this play, click here and fast forward to the 48:41 mark.)

That’s the type of play that Beard loves more than all else and we saw more than our share of these moments from Moretti.  How many times do we see players known primarily as 3-point shooters give such effort?  That’s one reason Moro became so beloved on the South Plains, a region where grit is a way of life.

Texas Tech basketball fans know that Moretti is more than a spot-up sniper.  He’s a leader who is willing to do whatever he needs for his team as was evident on this play, which helped secure an important home win over the team that Tech would eventually share the Big 12 regular-season title with.