UT rides win streak into matchup
Horns are ready for a fight against onetime rivals in neutral site game
AUSTIN – Like any good Texan, Longhorns freshman Donovan Williams knows what it means when Texas and Texas A&M get together for an athletic competition.
The Houstonian will have closer tie to Sunday’s game between the ‘Horns (7-1) and Aggies (3-4) than most, though. Williams’ older sister Kelsey Bone played for the Aggies from 2011-13 and earned a number of distinctions, including Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and a spot on the Associated Press AllAmerican third team.
A loss would doom Williams to a holiday season filled with Aggies-style gloating. A win would keep him safe from Bone’s playful wrath.
“Being from Texas, the Texas-versus-Texas A&M rivalry is one you can’t not know,” Williams said. “My sister was an All-American at Texas A&M, so playing against them this year is a game I look forward to so I can have bragging rights around the house.”
The Lone Star Showdown at Fort Worth’s new Dickies Arena isn’t really where fans want to see the former Southwest/Big 12 conference rivals go at it. But unless the bowl selection process shockingly pits this pair of underperforming football programs together, this is as good as it’ll get for the foreseeable future.
The in-game animus might not be what it once was when these programs met annually. Most of these players have had to live through stories of the rivalry without fully experiencing it firsthand.
But some still cling to the ancient hatred, like Aggies senior guard Wendell Mitchell.
“My blood is boiling,”
Mitchell said.
What should get Mitchell really fuming is how the Aggies have played during a three-game losing streak. Texas A&M has averaged just 51.7 points per game on 31.6 percent shooting with 12 more turnovers than assists.
That has dropped the Aggies all the way to No. 238 in offensive efficiency, per KenPom.com.
Texas has trended in the other direction since collapsing in the second half of an 82-66 loss to Georgetown in the Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden. The Longhorns have reeled off three straight wins over California, McNeese and UAB, with Tuesday’s win over the Blazers ranking as one of the team’s most complete performances.
The offense especially looked spirited and energized for most of the game as shooters like Andrew Jones and Courtney Ramey finally capitalized on the open looks being generated.
“And on the offensive end when the play broke down, we didn’t just stop, we got to create an action, which was throw the ball to our big and cutting off of that,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said Tuesday. “And our guys did a good job with that.
“I think the biggest area for growth for us is guys understanding, particularly coming out of halftime but all the time, having an obsession with what goes into winning has to supersede how the game is going for you. And that goes against human nature a little bit, but that’s what the best teams do.”
The Longhorns have won with defense this year, holding opponents to 91.5 points per 100 possessions, good for 41st in the nation. And the emergence of athletic 6foot-11 freshman Kai Jones has given Texas an interesting piece capable of crashing the glass, throwing down lobs and creating chaos on defense.
That’s bad news for the Aggies’ sputtering offense. But records and streaks and all that extraneous minutiae tend not to matter quite as much when these two teams come together. Hatred has a way of bringing out the best, or worst, in both programs.
“This rivalry means a lot, being from Texas,” sophomore forward Gerald Liddell said. “I just want to go out there with my team and fight all we can for this university, for our fans, for everybody watching.”