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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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Beating No. 1 Louisville

Texas Tech had never beaten the No. 1 team in the nation until December of 2019 when Beard’s squad stunned No. 1 Louisville 70-57 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.  Playing without Jahmi’us Ramsey and coming off of three-straight losses, few gave the unranked Red Raiders a shot at the upset but that’s when Beard’s teams are at their best.

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Sparked by ten improbable points and two remarkable first-half blocks by walk-on Avery Benson, the Red Raiders put the Cardinals in a meat grinder and churned out a win for the ages.  And it was a win that came as a result of out-working and out-toughing a more talented and star-studded team.

Davide Moretti’s 18 points led the way and his 8-8 at the free-throw line helped the Red Raiders maintain a cushion for the entire second half.  Terrence Shannon Jr. got the start in Ramsey’s place and gave his team 13 points, including a dagger of a jumper to beat the shot clock with under five minutes to play, a shot which essentially was the knockout blow.

"“I’m really happy for our players and our program for a lot of reasons,”  Beard said after the game. “Tonight, we’re really proud of this victory because we feel like just we played and ultimately beat the scoreboard in a 40 minute game one of the best teams in college basketball. Happy for our guys. This crazy game of basketball – a possession there and possession here. We’re a different team right now.  We’ve lost three one possession games, but we’ve just stayed the course.”"

This year, one of the goals for the Red Raiders was to prove that the last two years were not a flash in the pan.  Beard needed his program to remain relevant nationally in his fourth season but at the time this game rolled around, many around the nation didn’t believe that was going to be the case.

Playing without Ramsey, Tech lost three games that were just one-score affairs in the final two minutes, including two games that were decided in overtime.  Thus, those close calls dropped Tech from the top 15 to the land of the unranked by the time this game rolled around.

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But thanks to a career night from Benson and a vintage Chris Beard type of performance, the Red Raiders grabbed national headlines by reminding the rest of the country that a Beard team can never be counted out.  Because this past season was eventually cut short, Tech didn’t have a chance to back up last year’s run to the National Title Game but to a lesser degree, the win over No. 1 Louisville validated Tech’s status as a program with staying power.

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