Texas basketball won a close one against Oklahoma State with a final score of 77-74. Let’s break down this game.
Texas offense
This offense played well, but it took big performances from Longhorn forward Greg Brown and guard Andrew Jones. Brown finished this game with a double-double 24 points and 14 rebounds. While Jones brought in 22 points of his own, the Longhorns usual contributor Matt Coleman III scored 15 points, but Courtney Ramey couldn’t find his rhythm in the game and went 0 of 6 on his shots before fouling out. Texas would’ve lost this game if it wasn’t for Brown and Jones stepping up and taking over in the game. Ramey needs to put this one behind him and move on. They’re going to need him for when they play even tougher competition than they faced this past Sunday.
Texas defense
Jones didn’t only help the Longhorns with his offense, but he played hard on defense as well. He got three blocks in this one. One player the Longhorns need on defense along with Jones is Jericho Sims. Just like Ramey struggled on offense, Sims had his own struggles. Sims is supposed to be a main contributor on rebounds and blocks. This could be in relation to the minutes he played in the game. He needs to play like the Longhorns know he can when he is out there. The Longhorns have enough players who can score the ball. They need to find those players who can haul in crucial rebounds over the course of the game. Jones is one of them and the Longhorns are still hoping Sims can be the other.
Looking forward
This team is good, but it is still missing those things that can truly push the Longhorns to the top. However, despite Oklahoma State being 6-1 prior to this game, the Longhorns are going to face tougher competition down the line. The successful teams that win national championships don’t have many weaknesses when it comes to down to it, and Texas at least has two. It struggles to get many rebounds or steals during the game. These are two crucial parts of the game you need to be good at in order to become successful. Any team can score a lot of points on any given night.
However, if the scoring isn’t there you need to rely on forcing misses to get boards and get steals to get extra possessions. Shaka Smart needs to emphasize this in practice immediately because situations like this will happen against teams like Kansas and Baylor. In those situations in the game where nothing seems to be falling, that is where playing defense can keep you in the game long enough until you’re making those shots.
Texas basketball has one more easy game to fix its struggles on defense before they start playing against more top 25 teams. The month of January will be important in determining whether or not the Longhorns will have a chance to reach the NCAA Tournament and contend for the Big 12 Championship as well. It all starts Jan. 2 against the Kansas Jayhawks.
Photo courtesy of IUHoosiers.com
