We have Monday night basketball in Austin. The Texas Longhorns (14-6) take on the No. 4 Houston Cougars (18-2) on ESPN.
The Cougars are beatable though it won’t be an easy task. The team’s two losses came on the road in Big 12 play against Iowa State (16-4) and TCU (15-5). Since the two losses, Houston is on a four-game winning streak with home victories over Texas Tech, UCF and Kansas State and a seven-point road win over BYU.
Texas will see one familiar face from another Big 12 squad in the game. Baylor transfer L.J. Cryer leads the Houston scoring attack with 15.2 points per game on a 40.7% field goal percentage and 38.7% three point shooting rate. Fellow guards Jamal Shead and Emmanuel Sharp average double-digit points opposite Cryer.
The Longhorns are looking to bounce back from a loss on Saturday against the BYU Cougars in Provo, 84-72. Certainly, there’s a lot of basketball left, but Texas’ margin for error is thinner after the loss.
Undoubtedly, Texas will need to play better defense than it did in its last game against BYU. With a road trip to face Houston on the horizon, the Longhorns might need to capitalize on the opportunity to add a resumé-boosting victory at home.
Generally speaking, a 10-loss or less season is a good barometer for a successful year for Texas in college basketball. For the Longhorns, that means a 7-4 finish in Big 12 play after starting 3-4 in conference. In short, that kind of ending to the season is unlikely with a loss on Monday given that eight of the team’s remaining 11 games are against ranked opponents.
Reserve guard Chendall Weaver could play a role in a Texas upset. Weaver broke out against Oklahoma with an attacking double-digit scoring night off the bench. He followed an 11-point performance against Oklahoma with a 15-point game against BYU. With baskets seemingly hard to come by for the Texas offense at times, Weaver’s consistent points at the basket could provide the team a higher floor.
Texas will look to get to 15 wins on the season when the team takes on the Houston Cougars at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN.