Tag: Straight

Texas Basketball: Jericho Sims, Kai Jones and Jase Febres to miss ISU game

The Texas Longhorns will be without Jericho Sims, Jase Febres and Kai Jones against the Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday.

Life for the Texas men’s basketball team has been rough going through the thick of their conference schedule. Life didn’t get any better as they prepare for their next matchup with the Iowa State Cyclones. The Longhorns will be looking for the season series sweep on Saturday, one of their lone bright spots on this season filled with disappointments.

The Longhorns will be without Kai Jones and Jase Febres for the Cyclones game and now it looks like Jericho Sims will be out for an undetermined amount of time. The latest news came as a bit of shock as he is dealing with a back injury that could possibly keep him sidelines for the rest of the season. That was a huge blow to the Longhorns basketball team that has had their own issues on the court.

Sims currently sits 8th among Big 12 rebounders with 8.2/game. The Longhorns will now need to find production with no other Texas player in the top 20 rebounders in the conference. This likely will mean more playing time for Royce Hamm Jr who is only averaging 9.4 minutes per game. He also averages 2.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. The Longhorns could also lean on more Kamaka Hepa to play some more minutes for Texas.

The Cyclones are dealing with injury issues of their own with Tyrese Haliburton done for the year with a fractured wrist. He was averaging 15.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game. The Longhorns travel to Ames, Iowa on Saturday for the final regular season matchup between these two schools.

 

Texas Basketball: Three Takeaways From The Baylor Loss

The Texas Longhorns fell once again to the Baylor Bears, three reasons for their latest loss in their current three-game skid.

The Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team is amidst a three-game losing streak after dropping their last game to Baylor, completing a season sweep for the Bears. During the broadcast ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla mentioned the amount of talent that the Longhorns have secured over the Shaka Smart tenure.

No Go To Scorer

The main cause for the losses as of late is development under Smart. With 11 top 100 players signed to play basketball, the Longhorns have yet to display the fruits of their labor on the hardwood. Against the Bears, Texas struggled to score consistently enough to keep up with their defense against a number one team. Texas fell to 0-11 against top ranked teams in their history.

Against the Bears, Longhorns’ guard Matt Coleman III led all scorers along with Baylor’s MaCio Teague with 11 points. That falls below is 12.6 points per game during Big 12 play. While Coleman has been the best for the team, Texas lacks that go to option when the going gets tough.

Shooting

During Monday’s game the Longhorns made one more basket that Baylor but lost by seven to the nation’s top ranked team. Over the three-game skid the Longhorns have been especially poor from behind the line. Shooting just 20.3 percent from behind the arc on 64 attempts. The average 4.3 makes on 21.3 attempts per game.

Arguably their best three point shooter missing in Jase Febres didn’t help matters but they have really struggled from distance. Overall their shooting hasn’t been there either. The Longhorns need to get more quality shots on the offensive side. Or attempt to get to the free throw line.

Over the last three games Texas has shot just 34.6 percent from the field with 63 makes on 182 attempts. Against the Bears they shot the lowest of that stretch with 30.5 percent. Despite a strong defensive effort, it is increasingly difficult to beat anyone when you miss that many shots. Texas is dead last in the conference at 64.6 points per game.

Rebounding

Despite having a big man like Jericho Sims who snagged 14 rebounds against Baylor, Texas has really struggled on the glass. They average the least amount of offensive rebounds per game which would give them more opportunities to score. Which could help counteract their porous shooting performances.

In total rebounds, the Longhorns average just 32.9 rebounds per game while allowing 35.8 per game. Their rebounding margin (-2.92) per game is the worst of the conference. Texas needs to make a more concerted effort to dominate the glass if they expect to compete with the top teams in the conference despite a disadvantage in shooting on a nightly basis.

 

 

Texas Loses Third Straight Game, Falls to No. 1 Baylor

Going into the game against BU, UT had lost back to back games. The Bears made it three in a row as they came into Austin and beat UT, 52-45.

Going into Monday night’s game against Baylor, the Longhorns had lost back to back games against Kansas and Texas Tech, nearly shutting the door on their NCAA Tournament hopes. The Bears completely shut that door closed, as they came into Austin and beat Texas, 52-45.

As usual, three-pointers are what killed the Longhorns’ chances of winning. Texas shot 3-17 from behind the arc, their second time shooting below 20% from three in two games. Both Courtney Ramey and Kamaka Heps were 0-4, struggling all night for the Longhorns.

Another common theme of the season has been the lack of free throws and it continued on Monday night. Texas was right on their season average, getting to the foul line 11 times. Making just over half of them with six, the Longhorns continue to struggle with free throws.

Andrew Jones and Matt Coleman were the only Texas players in double figures with 10 and 11 points respectively but shot a combined 8-24 from the field and 3-8 from the three-point line. The Longhorn offense struggled, killing their chances of an upset.

Baylor was not much better on offense than Texas, scoring their lowest amount of the entire season. The Bears were held to 34% shooting from the field and shot better from deep, making 37% of their threes. They remain unbeaten in Big 12 play, having a 1.5 game lead over Kansas in the Big 12.

Going forward for Texas, the opportunity to make the NCAA Tournament is more than likely over. They will have two chances to get big wins at home against West Virginia and on the road to Texas Tech but even then, it may not be enough.

All focus should be on the Big 12 tournament and how far the Longhorns can make it in Kansas City. With the mountain already a little too steep to climb up, it will be the last chance Shaka Smart has to prove himself as the head coach worthy of leading this program.

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