‘Moral victories’ won’t help NCAA bid
Longhorns likely NIT bound after latest close loss
AUSTIN — The lone Longhorn who brought that great, all-powerful intangible — “juice,” as coach Shaka Smart defines it — to Kansas City was unequivocal.
Senior forward Dylan Osetkowski proclaimed Texas an NCAA Tournament team, unsightly 16-16 record be damned.
“Absolutely,” Osetkowski told reporters following a 65-57 loss to Kansas in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals. “Absolutely, no question about it. Regardless of our record, every game that we’ve played, it was there for us to win, and we’ve been in every game.”
Seven of those words should be ringed in neon
Every year or two the selection committee infuses new metrics and advanced statistics into their decision-making process.
So far, “moral victories” isn’t one of them.
Texas played plenty of quality teams close. It played a few too many inferior teams close.
A 4-10 record in games decided by six points or fewer is as concise a summary as one could make of Smart’s fourth campaign at UT. Losing the past three games by a combined 40 points, with every failure decaying the résumé,
paints an unflattering portrait of both coach and team.
Smart said the Kansa loss left him feeling “hollow.” He saw the same in his players’ sullen faces.
“I thought our guys’ ‘want to’ was definitely there from the standpoint of, they really wanted to win the game,” Smart said. “You can see the looks on their faces after the game. They told that story.
“We just didn’t do enough to win the game, particularly on the offensive end, didn’t make plays and down the stretch we missed some good shots that didn’t go in that could have made a difference.”
Credit No. 6 seed Texas for not wilting against No. 3 seed Kansas in what amounted to a semi-road game at the Jayhawks-friendly Sprint Center.
Kansas raced out to a 9-2, then 11-4 lead as Texas bumbled around on both ends. Osetkowski (18 points), guard Courtney Ramey and forward Jericho Sims prevented the hole from becoming deeper.
But forward Jaxson Hayes and guard Matt Coleman remained grounded. The duo combined for five points, two rebounds, two turnovers and six fouls.
That kind of production from two integral starters is a death sentence, even against an undermanned and unpredictable Kansas team.
“There’s a lot of different areas where we could have been better tonight,” Smart said. “Somebody mentioned Jaxson obviously having him on the floor more makes a big difference. It was not Matt’s night. He didn’t play particularly well.”
Coleman had a look at an open corner 3-pointer that would have reduced the Longhorns’ deficit to one point with 76 seconds remaining. The shot was off line and short. It clanged off the back iron and was recovered by Kansas guard Marcus Garrett.
But Hayes and Coleman don’t deserve to shoulder all of the blame.
Texas missed seven of 16 free throws. It missed 17 of 25 3-pointers. It got outscored 17-0 in fastbreak points and outrebounded 41-32.
“Particularly there was a 3point shot that Quentin Grimes hit midway through the half that was a big one for us because it was after one of our makes,” Smart said. “That’s unacceptable. We can’t give up a 3 after we make a shot. Our guys got confused, got their wires crossed in terms of matchups and defense. I think defensively that was the biggest factor because in the half-court possessions we guarded them pretty well.”
Even with an expected trip to the NIT looming, Smart should be safe to return for one more season.
But if this same old dance continues next year, the remaining millions UT would have to pay in a buyout wouldn’t be enough to save the coach from an early dismissal.
“The season is not done,” Smart said. “We will practice and work on getting better. We’ve got a lot of young guys that need to learn a lot from this game, from this experience up here.”
Texas can only hope Smart learns from these mistakes, too.