Texas Tech’s Matt Mooney hoping for better result in second shot at Gonzaga
Fri., March 29, 2019
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Texas Tech senior guard Matt Mooney remembers the full house, a few of GU’s players and the beatdown on the scoreboard.
This is round two for Mooney vs. Gonzaga. The first one didn’t go as planned for Mooney as a sophomore at South Dakota.
“They killed us,” said Mooney, a grad transfer who averages 10.9 points and 3.3 assists for the third-seeded Red Raiders. “They had (Josh) Perkins, (Rui) Hachimura, I don’t know if they had anybody else. We hung with them early, but I remember they killed us. It was not fun.”
Gonzaga rolled to a 102-65 win on Dec. 21, 2016. Mooney had 13 points and six rebounds.
“I remember not playing as well as I wanted to,” Mooney said. “It was probably one of the most embarrassing losses of my career. I think that was the only time we really got blown out.”
The 2017 Zags reached the NCAA championship game, falling to North Carolina. South Dakota won the Summit League regular-season title and played in the NIT.
Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few smiles with forwards Brandon Clarke (15) and Rui Hachimura (21) during a press conference on Friday, March 29, 2019, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The Zags will face Texas Tech in the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament West regional final Saturday. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)Buy a print of this photo
Local journalism is essential.
Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Gifts processed in this system are not tax deductible, but are predominately used to help meet the local financial requirements needed to receive national matching-grant funds.
Follow along with the Zags
Subscribe to our Gonzaga Basketball newsletter to stay up with the latest news.