Longhorns say one thing and do another
UT fizzles early as Prince, Bears coast to victory
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Shaka Smart instructs his Texas players to make a daily choice. Decide what kind of team you want to be, he tells them. Determine the things you need to accomplish in order to win and then do them.
Just like always, the 23rdranked Longhorns made their choices Thursday. But after an ugly 75-61 loss to No. 22 Baylor in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals at the Sprint Center, they were forced to acknowledge how they didn’t follow through on them.
“We were basically hypocrites,” UT guard Demarcus Holland said. “We said what was important and what goes into winning. We didn’t carry out that plan.”
Poor shooting takes toll
With Taurean Prince torching the Longhorns for 24 points and 13 rebounds and the Bears bullying their way to a 46-27 rebounding edge, Texas lost its conference tournament opener for the first time since 2005.
Baylor (22-10) advanced to meet top-ranked and No. 1 seed Kansas in the semifinals Friday. The Longhorns (20-12) remain a lock to make next week’s NCAA Tournament but will limp into March Madness having suffered five losses in nine games, including their three worst defeats of the season.
“Momentum would be great,” Smart said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have that.”
Texas never owned much of it at any point, falling behind 19-9 in the game’s first nine minutes while missing 13 of its first 17 shots. With the Bears’ aggressive zone defense extending beyond the 3-point line, the Longhorns finished the game shooting 23for-60 (38.3 percent) from the field.
“We weren’t going to let them beat us with 3s,” Prince said. “We did a good job of running them off the line (and) making sure they felt our pressure.”
They did. UT point guard Isaiah Taylor, who has been battling plantar fasciitis, said Baylor’s defense was more to blame for his rough afternoon than his heel ailment. Although Taylor had nine assists, he didn’t score his first basket of the game until the 10:45 mark of the second half. He finished with eight points on 3-of-9 shooting.
Ridley limited in return
Taylor wasn’t the only Texas player who struggled. Although Connor Lammert led the team with 15 points, Javan Felix missed all six shots he took while being held scoreless, and Cameron Ridley — making his first appearance since breaking his foot in December — was limited to only two minutes of action.
Smart said doctors placed Ridley on a fiveminute restriction but said the senior center was feeling pain at halftime and was shut down for the game. Smart and Ridley said they are hopeful he will be able to play a bigger role next week.
The more pressing issue, Smart said, is that his team keeps letting small moments of failure spiral into bigger ones. Missed shots lead to lapses on defense, and the team’s confidence — which Smart said is not naturally high — suffers.
“Our guys, most of them feel like they’re caught up in somewhat of a vicious cycle,” Smart said. “They really want to win, and they want to do well, but then some things don’t go our way, and they get a little down, and that clouds our minds a little bit, and here we are.”
Considering the way the Longhorns consistently peaked early and then limped into postseasons during the last seven years under former coach Rick Barnes, it is natural to wonder if some veteran players are having flashbacks.
But Holland, Felix and Taylor all insisted they are not.
“Not with this coaching staff,” Taylor said. “After a game last year, we’d get down and didn’t believe we could do it. This year, we have a whole different mentality.”