Roach readjusts, regains his identity
Senior guard breaks out of protracted slump, sparks victory over Purdue
AUSTIN — Over the last two and a half weeks, senior guard Kerwin Roach had drifted further and further away from the type of player Texas needed him to be.
Compounding the frustration was that Roach’s offensive malaise came on the heels of a dazzling performance against North Carolina in Las Vegas.
Roach played the best game of his career on Thanksgiving. He poured in a career-high 32 points on 12-of-15 shooting, including 3 of 3 from 3-point range, in a 92-89 win over the seventh-ranked Tar Heels.
His sudden identity crisis coincided with the Longhorns’ string of losses to Michigan State, Radford and VCU.
He shot 6 of 37 during that span. More than 50 percent of his attempts came from beyond the arc (4 of 19). Roach had stopped utilizing his fast-twitch superiority and instead began leaning on a shaky jumper.
Roach’s overreliance on jump shots and abandonment of what made him such a pesky player for defenders to cover contaminated Texas. It shot a combined 38 percent from the floor and 20.4 percent from three and compiled more turnovers (30) than assists (23) in back-to-back home losses.
Early in Sunday’s game against Purdue, coach Shaka Smart sensed Roach tending toward those bad habits once more. He had passed up a few open driving
lanes that, if he attacked, would have disrupted Purdue’s disciplined defense and created clean looks for teammates.
Smart couldn’t allow Roach to continue like this.
Ten seconds after he misfired on another 3-pointer, Smart summoned Roach to the bench for a wake-up call.
“We had a conversation,” Smart said Sunday. “It was about that, but it was about more than that. It was about his whole mentality and the way it had to be. I thought he did a really good job taking in that feedback and going and playing the right way.”
Roach re-entered the game 33 seconds later with Texas trailing 13-11.
Stationed on the right wing, he received a pass from forward Dylan Osetkowski and, without hesitation, burst into the lane. Roach blew by his defender and drew the attention of another Boilermaker who had been spying on Texas guard Elijah-Mitrou Long.
Roach whipped the ball to Mitrou-Long, idling a couple paces behind the 3-point line. There wasn’t a defender within 10 feet.
The 3-pointer fell, and Texas (6-3) regained the lead en route to a 72-68 victory.
Roach spent the remainder navigating through the Purdue defense, breaking it down and setting up teammates. Some passes led directly to assists; others served as catalysts for open looks at the rim or behind the arc.
His final line looked pedestrian: 10 points, five assists, four rebounds, two blocks and one turnover. But Roach’s recalibration altered the flow for the Longhorns, who’ve been out of sync for weeks on offense.
Texas shot 49 percent overall and 44 percent (11 of 25) from 3point range, its best marks since that victory over North Carolina. It hit on 15 of 16 free throws, including 7 of 8 over the final four minutes, by far its best showing this season. And it assisted on 17 of 23 field goals, though Smart noted 15 turnovers were still too many.
“I really want to praise Kerwin Roach for the way that he responded and battled,” Smart said. “Coming off of the VCU game, we really challenged him to play the exact way that Texas needs to play. I thought he did a great job tonight even though the game at times didn’t go his way. He got to the foul line, he scored double figures, he did a great job passing the ball and kept getting in the paint. That was huge.”
With two and a half minutes left in a game that could have gone either way, Roach demonstrated the effect he can have on an opposing defense.
He weaved past some bodies and into the paint, drawing the eyes of all five Boilermakers. He dealt a look-away pass to open guard Matt Coleman in the right corner.
Coleman, who scored a season-high 22 points, drained the open 3-pointer to put Texas up 67-62.
“Snoop’s a guy that as much as anyone he wants to go play well and help his team,” Smart said. “But our job as coaches is to help him understand what the best way is to do that.”
On Sunday, Roach understood exactly what was required — it just took a slight nudge.