Texas basketball falters at Kansas, 86-67

After falling to Kansas, it’s time to accept that the Longhorns aren’t a viable contender for postseason success.

Texas basketball is not a legitimate contender heading into March. It’s time to embrace it.

The Longhorns fell to the No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday, 86-67. It was an abhorrent but unsurprising performance for the team given that it lost in characteristic ways.

Texas hurled a handful of errant shots to start off the game offensively. Regularly bad or rushed shot attempts have been a huge issue over the course of the season. Bad shot attempts punctuated bad offensive possessions which characterized many of the Longhorns’ half court opportunities.

Forward Chendall Weaver led the team in shot attempts with 11, but second chance baskets added to his shot total.

The team’s other top scorer in forward Dylan Disu was neutralized by an active Kansas defense on the interior. He scored eight points on the night. Forward Dillon Mitchell and guard Tyrese Hunter put up 12 points each with both shooting 50% or more from the field.

Texas, last year’s elite eight participant and a near final four team, has been one of the bigger disappointments in college basketball. It’s not that the team as currently constructed is underperforming. It’s performing at the level we should have expected. The roster was simply incompletely constructed, and that falls on its head coach Rodney Terry.

Terry had several opportunities to add impact players in the portal. Instead he counted on guard Max Abmas to carry the team with a high volume of shot attempts. While Abmas is an accomplished scorer at the college level, Texas just isn’t getting the high offensive efficiency it needs. There aren’t enough consistent scorers on the team, but there were enough in the transfer portal over the offseason. The Longhorns whiffed.

Texas is not a viable contender heading into March, and likely an early exit in the Big 12 tournament. Should it make the NCAA tournament the same should be expected.

The Longhorns will try to sneak into the NCAA tournament with a remaining schedule of No. 23 Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, No. 11 Baylor and Oklahoma. They’ll face Texas Tech on Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN.