Free throw shooting
Plain and simple, you have to make your free throw shots. Texas did a nice job getting to the charity strike but only converted 18 of the 31 that they took. While Jericho Sims led the team in free throw attempts with 14, he only managed to make six of them. Sims missed two important ones with under a minute that could have given Texas a four-point lead.
After the game, Shaka Smart said “you gotta make more free throws than we made.” Getting to the line has not been a problem for Texas this season. They rank fourth in the Big 12 in that category. However, only making 69.8% of them is going to hurt you down the stretch, especially in close NCAA Tournament games.
An encouraging sign after the game was seeing true freshman Greg Brown coming back out onto the court after the game to work on his free throws. It shows that the team knows there is an issue that needs to be resolved.