Horns aiming for rare road win
AUSTIN — For Texas, the road has been inhospitable.
The Longhorns (12-9, 4-4 Big 12) are 1-4 in true away games this season. Their sole win came over a Kansas State team playing without starters Dean Wade and Kamau Stokes.
A slog up to the frozen plains of Ames, Iowa, to face 20th-ranked Iowa State (16-5, 5-3) will test Texas’ mettle as much as any of its previous road games. The Cyclones are 10-1 at home, their lone blemish a 58-57 loss to fullstrength Kansas State.
Texas probably isn’t thrilled to be venturing north into the polar vortex that paralyzed a large swath of the country, but it at least escaped January with its health and some hope.
The Longhorns went 3-5 last month. Its five defeats came by an average of five points, each peppered with backbreaking bouts of late-game miscues.
Home wins over 20th-ranked Oklahoma and 11th-ranked Kansas salvaged what could have become a lost season.
“It’s been a tough month,” senior guard Kerwin Roach II said after his first win over the Jayhawks. “But we’re just staying with each other, playing within our guidelines, our principles and what we practice every day.
“I’ve been down this road a couple of times before, and it’s nothing we can’t handle.”
Texas might have finally found its footing during Tuesday’s 73-63 win over Kansas. Of course, a similar sentiment arose after victories over seventh-ranked North Carolina and the Oklahoma win, which were followed by losing streaks of three and two games, respectively. The difference this time seems to be accountability. Senior forward Dylan Osetkowski has led the charge in that regard. With his college career winding down, the Tulane transfer’s sense of urgency has infected the rest of the team.
“He’s had a really good approach toward the game over the last two weeks, going back to our last Kansas game,” coach Shaka Smart said. “I think he has an understanding that he’s a senior and as a college basketball player he has a certain number of weeks and days and games left.”
Osetkowski was among those who organized a 30-minute players-only meeting before taking on Kansas. His aggression as a rebounder, finisher and defender galvanized the Longhorns on Tuesday as they recovered from an embarrassing loss to Georgia by shutting down the Jayhawks.
“It was a big win for us,” Smart said Thursday on the Big 12 coaches teleconference. “To create the defensive effort they created in the first half against Kansas and to finish the game well like we did, I think that gives our guys validation that it’s certainly something that we can go do.”
Texas has won four straight over Iowa State and even poached assistant Neil Berry from coach Steve Prohm’s staff last May. But this is not the same team that finished 4-14 in Big 12 play last season.
The Cyclones have beaten Kansas, Texas Tech and Ole Miss and just blasted West Virginia by 25 points. Sophomore guard Lindell Wigginton has scored 46 points over his past two games and finally seems to be shaking off the injury that cost him 10 games earlier this season. Senior guard Marial Shayok, a Virginia transfer, is averaging 19.6 points per game and shooting nearly 40 percent from long range.
And Iowa State is one of just eight teams among the top 25 in both offensive and defensive efficiency.
Given Texas’ proclivity for fraught finishes and the Big 12’s hyper-competitive nature, odds are today’s 1 p.m. game at the Hilton Coliseum will be another Big 12 nail-biter.
If that comes to pass, how Texas responds will be the biggest indicator of whether it has truly turned a corner. Even in the win over Kansas, the Longhorns nearly were sunk by recurring bad habits, especially taking care of the ball.
Texas offset some ill-timed turnovers with excellent freethrow shooting (8 for 9 over the final minute) and consistent defensive intensity.
“The key is building on it,” Smart said. “If we want to finish near the top of the standings, then (it’s about) putting together consecutive efforts like that and staying focused on putting winning above everything else.”
As it stands, Texas is still scrapping for an NCAA tournament bid. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Longhorns as a No. 10 seed, one of the final at-large bids available.
A road win over Iowa State would further boost a résumé that already features wins over four of KenPom.com’s top 35 teams.
“Bottom line is we have to find a way to make that happen,” Smart said. “This league, teams are going to continue to beat each other up. We’ve just got to try to be the best we can be in the next game.”