Horns tune out static with win
On Tuesday night, Kansas State beat Texas while scoring more points than any Big 12 team ever had against the Longhorns. Less than 48 hours later, athletic director Chris Del Conte announced the University had terminated the contract of second-year head coach Chris Beard nearly a month after he was arrested and charged with felony family violence.
Amid all that unpleasant racket, associate head coach-turned-interim coach Rodney Terry kept his guys focused only on what they could control. Beard’s not coming back. That chapter is rightfully closed. And Tuesday’s defensive debacle was unsightly, a little embarrassing even, but just one misstep on a long journey Texas hopes leads to Houston’s NRG Stadium, the host site for this year’s Final Four.
So the blinders went up and the Longhorns went to work Wednesday and Thursday before boarding Friday’s flight to Stillwater, Oklahoma. Stopping this tumultuous week from snowballing into even more misfortune wouldn’t be a simple task, but Terry knew if the sixth-ranked Longhorns could keep their minds uncluttered they’d be able to go grind out a win in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Terry was right, both about the degree of difficulty Oklahoma State presented and his team’s ability to lock-in when it mattered most. In a complete 180 from its previous loss to Kansas State, Texas (13-2, 2-1 Big 12) won a 56-46 rock fight against the Cowboys (9-6, 1-2) Saturday afternoon.
“I give my guys a lot of credit,” Terry said during a post-game interview on the Longhorn Radio Network. “We won this game back in Austin. We got back the day that we could get back on the floor and started working. We went straight to our defense. I mean, we spent two hours working on nothing but defense, defense, defense. We did it the entire practice. We didn’t do one offensive drill. We just had to get back to our identity. In this league you got to be able to play defense and guard and get stops.”
Texas scored 103 points Tuesday against Kansas State. The Wildcats scored 116. The shot-making was spectacular on both ends, two teams furiously trading buckets all night long at the Moody Center.
Saturday’s game was a stark contrast.
The pace was sluggish. Driving lanes rarely emerged, and when they did their existence only spanned a blink or two before being overrun with long-limbed athletes. The outside shooting — Texas went 5-for-18 from 3, Oklahoma State 6-for-21 — was atrocious.
By halftime, Texas led 32-24 with both teams shooting below 35 percent from the field. The Longhorns would have appreciated a few more open looks, but they’d at least built a modest lead heading into the final 20 minutes.
“There was a lot of defense. I’m not sure we touched the ball (for offensive drills) after that (Kansas State) game that next practice,” Texas fifth-year wing Brock Cunningham said of this week’s focus. “But it showed today and we’re just gonna keep getting better on defense.”
Oklahoma State took a 44-43 lead on guard Caleb Asberry’s 3 with 8:20 to go. That was the exclamation point on a 10-3 spurt that Oklahoma State used to flip a seven-point deficit into a slight edge.
Asberry’s triple was also the last shot the Cowboys made all afternoon.
Texas started putting bodies on sprightly forward Kalib Boone (16 points, 10 rebounds, six blocks) and kept defenders tethered to Asberry to prevent more 3s. Freshman Dillon Mitchell (12 rebounds, three steals) played a key role in both developments, snaring rebounds and providing unrelenting defense.
On offense, Texas leaned on its veterans.
Super senior guard Marcus Carr (12 points) and forward Timmy Allen (11 points) scored nine of the team’s final 13 points down the stretch. Cunningham splashed his second clutch 3 of the half to give Texas a 53-46 lead with 2:05 remaining.
“Really proud of those young guys and proud of our older guys, as well,” Terry said.
There are no cupcakes waiting to offer a reprieve on the Big 12 slate.
Next week, Texas will welcome No. 17 TCU and Texas Tech to the Moody Center. Those games will have a significant ripple effect on the conference standings as teams jockey for position early in the new year.
“It’s about doing what you can control,” Cunningham said. “We’re here to win games and represent the University of Texas. I think we did a good job of that today.”