Texas routs Oklahoma
After a resounding win over Oklahoma on Saturday followed by Central Florida's upset win at TCU, Texas basketball knows its fate for the Big 12 Tournament. The Longhorns will be the No. 7 seed and will face 10th-seeded Kansas State on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the TMobile Center in Kansas City, Mo. With a win, Texas could face second-seeded Iowa State in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Based on their performance in the regular-season finale against the Sooners, the Longhorns look primed for the postseason. Tyrese Hunter exploded for a career-high 30 points and helped Texas reach season-highs in both field-goal percentage (63.5%) and free-throw percentage (22-of-23, 96%).
Here are three things we saw in Texas' win.
Dylan Disu, Brock Cunningham: Bidding farewell in style
Hunter, a junior, stole the show on Senior Day, but forwards Dylan Disu and Brock Cunningham had their share of moments. The two homegrown Longhorns — Cunningham played at Westlake while Disu starred at Hendrickson — joined Max Abmas and Ithiel Horton as the four seniors honored before the game. After battling a stomach bug all week and suffering a slight knee sprain in last Monday's loss at Baylor, Disu responded with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting and six rebounds. Cunningham scored six points and grabbed five boards and dished out a career-high six assists. Oh, and Cunningham also matched former McNeil star AJ Abrams for most games played by a Longhorn (144) and moved into a tie with Abrams and Connor Atchley for most wins by any Texas player, at 109.
Tyrese Hunter: Still focused on defense
Hunter had as many free throws as buckets in his career game, making nine of his 13 shots and going 9-for-9 from the foul line. A 75.5% foul shooter in his two seasons at Texas, he reached his season high in both made free throws and free-throw attempts while aggressively attacking the basket. But he proved just as proud of his defense as his points after helping hold Javian McCollum, OU's leading scorer, to just five points on 2-of-6 shooting.
Rodney Terry: Transition points key for offense
Texas ends the regular season shooting 46.7% from the field, which ranks second in the conference behind Kansas. A surge of transition buckets in recent weeks has boosted that number. In Saturday's win, the Longhorns had 25 fast-break points while giving up just eight. If Texas can get out on the break and get some easy baskets, it can complement a half-court offense that still often relies too much on Disu and Abmas regardless of Hunter's scoring outburst against OU.
Up next: K-State and the Big 12 tourney
Texas opens the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday against Kansas State (6 p.m., ESPN+, 1300). The Longhorns beat Kansas State 62-56 in a hard-fought contest at Moody Center on Feb. 19, but nothing came easy in the only meeting of the regular season between the conference foes. Texas shot just 36.2% from the floor and leaned heavily on Disu (20 points, 8 rebounds) but did hold the Wildcats to 35.7% shooting.