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Texas Tech basketball: Chris Beard’s most important regular-season wins

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 24: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders invites students onto the court after the college basketball game against the LIU Sharks on November 24, 2019 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 24: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders invites students onto the court after the college basketball game against the LIU Sharks on November 24, 2019 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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Winning at Iowa State to claim the Big 12 title

Winning 9-straight games at the end of the 2018-19 regular-season to claim a share of the program’s first Big 12 title might be one of the most overlooked and remarkable accomplishments of Beard’s career.   Likewise, wrapping up that run with an 80-73 win at Iowa State, a team that would a week later win the Big 12 Tournament, was a rather impressive feat.

Texas Tech got 31 points from Jarrett Culver and 20 from Davide Moretti with Matt Mooney (13 points) the only other player reaching double-digits.  Conversely, Beard’s three-man bench rotation gave him just six points, all coming off of Brandone Francis 3-pointers.

It didn’t matter though because Culver wasn’t going to let his team lose. He scored four-straight points in the last minute to essentially ice the game and sow up Big 12 Player of the Year honors as well.

This was the first time Beard had managed to win at Hilton Coliseum.  It was also a game Tech had to have because later that night, Kansas State would beat Oklahoma to clinch their share of the league crown.

Beard always says that if a trophy is being handed out, he intends on taking it home.  Thus, after the game, the image of him sitting next to the Big 12 trophy on the bus ride back to the airport was so satisfying to Red Raider fans.

So too was the knowledge that a Lubbock kid had been the one to carry the program to its first-ever Big 12 title of any kind.  This was a massive step in the program’s evolution because it showed just what Beard can accomplish and it guaranteed that when people talk about the teams that ended Kansas’ reign of terror in the Big 12, they will have to mention Texas Tech.

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