UT ranks far down list in scoring

UT basketball

start, they have all kinds of issues, most on offense.

The Longhorns blew an eight-point lead in the final three minutes against UCLA, a span that included forced shots, poorly executed plays and two turnovers by freshman point guard Javan Felix.

“We all got a little flustered,” freshman forward Connor Lammert said.

The Longhorns rank 279th nationally in scoring, 257th in field goal percentage and 332nd in turnovers.

Felix, forced to play 35 minutes a game while the NCAA continues to sort out Myck Kabongo’s eligibility, has committed 33 turnovers, second-most in the Big 12.

Sometimes Felix throws passes that are intercepted or land out of bounds.

“The timing is either a step too late or too early,” Felix said. “You always have that playing with new teammates in a new offense.”

Felix didn’t throw the ball away on his two turnovers late in the UCLA game; it was taken from him as he dribbled, a lapse harder to explain. Felix said he might have been distracted while looking for open teammates or it was “me not being aware of people reaching in.”

The Longhorns could have won that game had they converted one of the missed layups or had Felix been a little more careful.

Perhaps that’s why Barnes says he is not concerned about another defect — perimeter shooting.

Texas has hit 29.9 percent of its 3-point shots, which ranks only 247th. UCLA left the Longhorns open to shoot them, and they responded by converting 4 of 20.

“Those are shots we are going to make,” Barnes said.

“We didn’t make shots in the first half of that game and we were down just two. That’s (after) missing two wide open layups.” And at the end? “We stopped running the offense,” Barnes said. “One guy would cut, stop and everybody was looking around like ‘what’s going on next?’ ”

The Longhorns have been more successful on defense. The 33.1 percent shooting accuracy they have allowed opponents is second lowest in the nation.

Even so, Barnes said the defense faltered near the end against UCLA.

“People look at the fact that we stopped scoring,” Barnes said. “But (UCLA) scored eight points about as quickly as you could score eight points.”

So Barnes must spend some time dealing with that.

At least he won’t have to keep reminding his players about the missed layups.

“Do I have to address it?” Barnes asked. “I don’t. Their friends are doing it for me.”