Despite late mistake, Texas stays confident.
Smart’s plan goes awry when Roach fails to follow script
AUSTIN — The scene at the top of the key turned into a messy meeting of frantic bodies. Five Longhorns around the arc, five Jayhawks sprinting to sniff out and prevent a clean final look.
This wasn’t what Texas coach Shaka Smart envisioned when drawing up a play with 8.6 seconds remaining and his team trailing 8078 on Monday in Lawrence, Kan.
The confusion stemmed from a miscommunication on the part of guard Kerwin Roach II.
Rather than slide away from the main action as point guard Matt Coleman barreled down the floor, he moved over and seemed ready to set a screen. Problem was, guard Jase Febres — who minutes earlier had sunk three straight 3pointers — was supposed to execute a pick-and-pop with Coleman.
No chance for Febres
That would present some options.
Febres would try to create separation and sidestep over to the wing for an open 3-point shot. If the Kansas defense homed in on the hot hand, Coleman could dart down the lane for the tie. If the Jayhawks focused on stopping the drive, he could seek a pass to another perimeter option — Roach in the right corner, forward Dylan Osetkowski in the other or guard Courtney Ramey on the wing.
Roach’s unexpected presence muddled everything.
Febres set a slip screen for Coleman and his defender dropped back. That sequence would have created a quality look at a gamewinning 3-point try for Febres.
But Kansas guard Lagerald Vick, Roach’s defender, abandoned his primary assignment and hugged Febres as Coleman swung it to his pick-and-pop partner. Roach, Coleman and Febres formed a tight triangle which kept the defense from scrambling and breaking — not the sort of spacing Smart envisioned.
Febres was smothered, but with 2.3 seconds on the clock he was compelled to hoist a shot from about two steps beyond the arc. He rose high and faded back to avoid Vick’s block attempt.
The ball landed on the rim and bounced off the backboard as the final buzzer sounded.
“I messed up the play,” Roach told the Austin-American Statesman following the game.
A Texas victory would have left six two-loss Big 12 teams bunched together behind undefeated Texas Tech (15-1, 4-0). Instead, UT will take a three-game losing streak into Saturday’s home game against 20th-ranked Oklahoma (13-3, 2-2).
Still, even as Roach declined to celebrate any sort of moral victory, Coleman believed the stinging defeat would serve as a sort of propellant.
“It will bring more of a hunger out of us, more of a desire to just want to get better,” Coleman said. “If we keep doing the little things and trust it, if we fall in love with what we did tonight and then keep battling and fix a few things, we can get these wins and compete with anybody in the conference and make a run.”
Texas has proved it is capable of hanging with some of the nation’s best. But its record in games decided by six points or fewer (3-6) has prevented it from rising to the same level.
“The message is that when we control the things we can control and we stay together as a group, I thought we were about 95 percent there in that areas tonight,” Smart said Monday. “That’s what you have to do to beat the best teams.”
Reasons for hope
The outline of a formidable team still remains.
Febres is starting to come into his own. His supreme confidence as a shooter is apparent, and he has demonstrated an ability to attack off the dribble.
Freshman forward Hayes grows into more of a menace with each passing game and sophomore forward Jericho Sims attacked the glass and played with more aggression against No. 7 Kansas.
Coleman, Roach, Elijah MitrouLong and Courtney Ramey provide plenty of playmaking and have fared well in Smart’s fourguard lineups.
But if Texas can’t execute in those frenzied late-game situations, all that talent won’t amount to many wins in the robust Big 12.
“If we play the way we did with the spirit we had tonight, we’re going to win plenty of games,” Smart said. “But we have to have the understanding going in to what goes into grabbing a game down the stretch.”