The number-one ranked Louisville Cardinals were upset by the unranked Texas Tech Raid Raiders 70-57 Tuesday night. Next week the AP Top 25 will have a new team in the number one spot for a record fifth time in seven weeks.
“I think their guard play is really good. In a 40-minute game you’re not always going to play your best. We were fortunate tonight. We were concerned about their perimeter and post players, just pleased we won. We felt we had to play our best game of the year and we did that,” Head Coach Chris Beard said.
Junior guard Davide Moretti was able to lead the way for the Raiders scoring 18 points and dishing out three assists. Freshman Terrence Shannon played aggressively contributing 13 points, three rebounds and a steal. The Raiders also relied on junior walk-on Avery Benson who played 22 minutes scoring ten points, four rebounds, two blocks and a steal.
It seemed the Raiders season was heading down hill after three straight losses to Depaul, Creighton and Iowa, all of whom are unranked. The team saw five freshman join the team this offseason so the rough start might’ve just been growing pains. They were also missing freshman standout Jahmi’us Ramsey due to a hamstring injury. The guard is averaging 17.6 points and six rebounds per contest through six games and is listed as day-to-day, according to Tech.
This win is their first big statement since last season’s historic campaign that saw them reach the NCAA title game for the first time in school history. Although they lost to Virginia, Beard was given a huge six-year contract that will earn him $4.57 million a year.
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“It sends a very big message what our expectations are as an athletics program,” Tech Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt said last April.
Louisville were 9-0 coming into the game Tuesday and their first season with former Xavier Head Coach Chris Mack. “I just think we have to play like a veteran crew we’ve gotta be able to work the ball around. We need to take the shot that presents itself, whether that’s Jordan or that’s Williams. I think we were thinking about our offense too much,” Mack told CBS Sports.
They should be able to recover easily when they take on unranked Eastern Kentucky on Saturday.
