Longhorns head into pivotal clash vs. Iowa St.
AUSTIN — This nascent decade has been cruel to Texas.
The Longhorns have been battered – physically, mentally, spiritually. They’ve lost eight of 12 games since Jan. 1, each time finding novel and improbable ways to come undone. Each loss has pushed the program further from the NCAA tournament picture.
Mounting injuries have only compounded the situation. Junior forward Jericho Sims (back) and junior guard Jase Febres (knee) remain out indefinitely, and freshman big Kai Jones (ankle) is day-to-day, leaving coach Shaka Smart with a shortened rotation over these final seven regular-season games.
“Obviously, our team’s a little short-handed right now,” Smart said Thursday. “But you get to this point in the season it’s gotta be about guys stepping forward and your team coming together around the guys that are healthy and playing your best basketball with that group. And it might mean playing a little bit differently, changing certain things depending on who’s out there and who’s not out there.”
Texas (14-10, 4-7 Big 12) just emerged from a threegame gauntlet that felt like a microcosm of the season.
It led No. 3 Kansas at halftime, went up on Texas Tech with two minutes to go and was within two points of No. 1 Baylor with 13 minutes remaining; Texas lost all three.
But this next three-game stretch could be just the balm the Longhorns need. It begins Saturday against an Iowa State team that just lost star sophomore guard Tyrese Haliburton (wrist) for the remainder of the season.
The Cyclones (10-14, 3-8), sans Haliburton, were demolished last time out in a 90-61 loss to Oklahoma. Still, winning in Ames, Iowa, is never a given regardless of the roster, and the Cyclones still have talent with junior forward Solomon Young, junior wing Terrence Lewis and sophomore guard Rasir Bolton.
“Terrence Lewis is probably the biggest beneficiary of anyone in terms of playing time and minutes and opportunities,” Smart said. “And we really have to be ready to defend them inside and make sure that we do a good job defensively on their bigs Solomon Young’s playing really well and he’s a guy that we have to account for and make sure we counteract.”
Stopping Young and the Cyclones’ slashers poses more of a problem with Sims out and Jones unlikely to play. Junior big Royce Hamm should earn even more minutes this time out after an impactful outing against Baylor (six points, seven rebounds), and while he doesn’t offer the offense of Sims, his motor and defensive effort should help.
But what Texas truly needs is consistent highlevel play from its backcourt rotation.
Matt Coleman, Courtney Ramey, Andrew Jones and Donovan Williams must be the driving force behind this team. Ramey in particular is often the best barometer of whether the Longhorns are poised for victory.
In four Big 12 wins, Ramey has averaged 12.8 points on 50 percent shooting, four assists and 2.8 3-pointers. In seven losses, he’s averaged 7.7 points on 28.8 percent shooting, 2.1 assists and 0.7 3s.
“He’s a huge key,” Smart said. “He’s a guy we all know is capable of playing well. He’s been up and down at times this year. He’s very hard on himself and really gets upset with himself when he doesn’t do certain things. But the last thing we want that to create is any lack of aggressiveness.
“And especially with the injuries we’ve had, we need him to step forward and take on a leadership role.”
Smart has emphasized movement as the key to keep the offense’s engine running. Texas sometimes can stand still and focus single-mindedly on one simple action, too often leading to a desperate heave to avoid a shot-clock violation.
Texas has averaged an unsightly 6.3 assists and 11.7 turnovers per game during this recent threegame skid. Frigid shooting nights have contributed to that low assist total, with Texas hitting just 13 of 64 from deep during this stretch.
“We just have to get better with movement,” Smart said. “You don’t want to stand there for 10, 15 seconds trying to force-feed it into a guy because that results in a lack of movement. We need to move bodies better, need to move the ball better.”
The Longhorns can keep its tournament hopes alive by sweeping these next games against Iowa State, TCU and Kansas State. That, at least, would allow them to remain in the middle of the Big 12 pack with a .500 conference record — and provide some relief in a young year that’s been nothing short of miserable.
“This week we have a chance to go up there and really improve our standing in the Big 12 and beyond,” Smart said. “This is definitely a swing game for us. It’s important for us to put everything we have into it.”