Texas Tech Basketball returns a solid roster following last year’s Elite Eight run. How will the Red Raiders follow up that successful season?
Texas Tech had a surprisingly successful season in Year Two of the Chris Beard era as they became a top 10 team and made the Elite Eight for the first time in school history. The Red Raiders found an identity as well, emerging as one of the best and toughest defensive teams in the country.
That success did have some unintended consequences as star freshman Zhaire Smith left for the NBA Draft and was picked No. 16 overall by the Phoenix Suns, meaning Tech has to replace their top two scorers as Keenan Evans graduated.
Evans, who was their do-everything player last year, headlines a five-player senior class that departed, leaving Texas Tech with plenty of holes to fill in the rotation. Beard and his staff landed a solid recruiting class, but also landed a pair of impact grad transfers in South Dakota’s Matt Mooney and St. John’s Tariq Owens.
The departures have many thinking the Red Raiders will be taking a step back in 2018-19, but they’re hoping that won’t be the case. Star wing Jarrett Culver opted to return after testing NBA Draft waters this summer and return several other rotation players.
Will this combination of returners, talented grad transfers, and underrated freshman class be able to mesh in time for Texas Tech to remain among the best teams in the Big 12? Here’s a full season preview for the Red Raiders, including a look at their lineup and non-conference schedule.
Starting lineup
Davide Moretti
Moretti will be tasked with replacing Evans as the starting point guard, and while he isn’t as dynamic of a player, he’s certainly solid in his own right. In the U20 European Championships over the summer, he averaged 15 points per game to lead the Italian national team. He’s a true point guard who is more of a facilitator and is smart with the ball, providing a steadying hand for the rest of the team. A number of players will likely see time as the primary ball-handler, but Moretti will be the No. 1 guy.
Matt Mooney
Of all the newcomers on the roster, Mooney is the guy people are the most excited about. The 6-3, 200-pounder starting his career at Air Force before transferring and playing two years at South Dakota, where he averaged 18.7 points per game a year ago. His shooting will be his biggest asset for this team as the Red Raiders largely struggled to make shots from deep last year. Mooney can both spot up and create his own shot off the bounce, both skills that will be heavily utilized by the offense.
Jarrett Culver
It looks like Culver is set to take over as Texas Tech’s best and more important player. Smith got most of the praise from last year’s freshman class (and rightfully so), but Culver averaged 11.2 points per game and was one of their best defenders. He should be even better defensively with some offseason strength added to his 6-5 frame, allowing him to guard positions one-through-four. Culver should have more freedom on offense as well as the focal point of the offense.
Deshawn Corprew
Texas Tech is expected to play small this year, and the physical 6-6 wing is a perfect small ball four because of his toughness and ability to rebound against bigger players. Corprew, who was one of the best JUCO players on the market, has a rare combination of quickness and strength that makes him a great defender and a quality slasher.
Tariq Owens
Owens was solid last year at St. John’s (8.4 ppg, 5.9) but made an imprint nationally as one of the best shot-blockers in the nation, averaging 2.8 per game (eighth nationally). As good as Texas Tech was defensively a year ago, they weren’t good at protecting the rim – no player averaged more than 1.1 blocks per game. Owens suddenly gives their defense a true anchor, allowing them to play even tighter on the perimeter. Don’t expect him to contribute much on the offensive end, but that’s not why he’ll be on the court.
Non-conference schedule
Nov. 9 – Mississippi Valley State
Nov. 13 – Southeastern Louisiana
Nov. 19-20 – Hall of Fame Classic
Nov. 24 – Northern Colorado
Dec. 1 – vs. Memphis (in Miami, FL)
Dec. 5 – Arkansas Pine-Bluff
Dec. 12 – Northwestern State
Dec. 15 – Abilene Christian
Dec. 20 – vs. Duke (in New York, NY)
Dec. 28 – UTRGV
Jan. 26 – Arkansas
This is a non-conference schedule that doesn’t feature many tests and that will give this team full of new parts time to gel and work out the kinks against lesser competition. However, that’s not to say they’re pulling a Georgetown and playing an entire slate of cupcakes.
Their first real test will come prior to Thanksgiving in the Hall of Fame Classic. Texas Tech will face USC in the first game of the event and then either Nebraska or Missouri State. USC is expected to take a step back given the amount of talent they lost in the offseason but should serve as an early measuring stick game. Then, if the Red Raiders face Nebraska, we’ll get a real feeling as to how good Tech is as the Cornhuskers should be one of the better teams in the Big Ten.
There also figures to be plenty of fanfare for Texas Tech’s game against Memphis given the arrival of Penny Hardaway as the Tigers’ head coach, but that program appears to be a year away from really being able to compete at a high level.
The highlight of this home-heavy schedule is their Dec. 20 showdown against Duke at Madison Square Garden. Duke is consensus preseason top-five team and likely feature three future top-five picks in R.J. Barrett, Cameron Reddish, and Zion Williamson. It will be an opportunity to see how Texas Tech stacks up against the best of the best – and a chance to raise the national profile of the program even more if they can pull off the upset.
The Red Raiders will wrap up their non-conference schedule in January against Arkansas as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Razorbacks big man Daniel Gafford will be the best player on the court in that game but Arkansas doesn’t have much around him. Texas Tech figures to have a major advantage.
Season outlook
Two things are working in favor of another great year for the Red Raiders – the Big 12, while still strong, is not as strong as it was last year, and Chris Beard is one of the most underrated coaches in the entire country.
For all the new pieces, this team doesn’t lack talent. Beard will have them playing hard and playing together sooner rather than later. They should be even better defensively as well with more length and quickness than last year’s team, and they now have an elite rim protector in Owens.
Yet the biggest factor that will determine just how high this team’s ceiling is will be if they can find a new go-to guy. Evans did so much for the Red Raiders and was the difference in them simply being a good team and an Elite Eight team last year. Culver is the only player who averaged double figures at the Power 6 level a year ago so I’d expect him to step into that role, but a number of other players (Mooney, Moore) could as well.
Look for Texas Tech to top 20 wins for the second consecutive season (which would mark the first time they would accomplish that feat since 2003-04 and 2004-05) and finish in the top four in the Big 12. That would put them in the NCAA Tournament again, where they could potentially win a game or two.
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