- Texas may well lose its head coach for good, and now it must rediscover its defensive identity after losing 116-103 to Kansas State.
- If Rodney Terry has any chance of taking over as head coach, which is likely to open up, he should fix his defense and go deep in March.
- The Longhorns made defense their calling card, but in one dreadful performance against the Wildcats, their kenpom.com rating for defensive performance dropped from 13th to 38th.
First, Texas lost a coach.
Then he lost his individuality.
Or at least lost it for one night.
The Longhorns men’s basketball team, which finished in sixth place, may never regain the top spot, with the dismissal of head coach Chris Byrd that seems almost a fait accompli. But the team, which has already overtaken Gonzaga and Creighton in the top 10 this season, will have to rediscover its signature claustrophobic defense if it plans to live up to and capitalize on its status as one of the best teams in college basketball. stellar season.
The responsibility falls largely on acting head coach Rodney Terry, who was doing a brilliant job until Tuesday night replacing Beard, who is likely to be finally fired at some point this month following an episode of domestic violence with his longtime fiancée.
“I’m very proud of Rodney and all of our coaching staff and players,” Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte said ahead of the game. “They just bonded and did an incredible job. It goes to show that the team itself has just revitalized and that’s a testament to the whole team.”
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Terry deserves credit for his excellent performance. As Assistant Head Coach Byrd, he had a hand in nearly every aspect of the program, spending 10 seasons as head coach at UTEP and Fresno State.
But if he was trying to impress the school administration, who would probably be looking for Beard’s successor in the next two months, that wasn’t the best way to do it on Tuesday.
Terry kept the ship afloat and the players afloat with a five-game winning streak in his new role, but the level of play is rapidly rising in a league that is predicted to send nine of its 10 teams to the NCAA Tournament. braketologists.
The Horns (12-2) is considered the #3 seed of the NCAA Tournament, higher than any Big 12 team except for the reigning national champion Kansas, who is listed as the top seed.
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But all that momentum was compromised by a dismal defensive performance in a 116-103 battle from a remarkably good Kansas State team that finished last in the nation’s best conference. Terry, to his credit, conceded defeat, only the second of the season after losing in overtime to then No. 17 Illinois.
“K-State played really well and we couldn’t get the stops we needed,” Terry said. “We have to keep believing in how important this end of the basketball court is. This is a work in progress and we need to take on more responsibility. In the “Big 12” you will not be able to outperform other players. You have to make stops and play well D night and night.”
There’s no shame in losing to the Wildcats, who, at 13-1, are quickly learning to win under freshman head coach Jerome Tang, fresh out of Baylor’s Scott Drew program.
But Texas has the most points in Big 12 history and the most in any game since winning the Texas Tech Boat Race 128-125 in overtime in February 1994. cutters to the basket, one undeniably easy-to-pass after another, and never came close to denying K-State light buckets.
Texas can’t afford to continue this kind of defensive play after the visitors dismantled the Longhorns on 61% shooting, including 13 three-pointers, in what felt like a Wildcats practice at times.
The Longhorns have never been in the lead. They played hard and rallied for seven and seven minutes before the game, but couldn’t weather the storm from the relentless Markkis Nowell, a Harlem senior fifth-year quarterback who plays as a Big 12 Player of the Year candidate with 36 points. nine assists and three steals against the Horns.
Texas had its offensive stars in Tyrese Hunter, who scored a career-best 29 points, and Marcus Carr, who scored 2,000 points in his 140th game.
Crime was not a problem. The defense has.
Whether the Longhorns’ defenders will fail without the withering, defensive-minded frown of Beard, or simply face an attacking juggernaut in an electric night, remains to be seen. Once ranked first in the nation in defensive effectiveness by kenpom.com, Texas was No. 3 at the time of Byrd’s departure in mid-December and has since dropped to 13th. The Horns dropped to 38th after a poor game on Tuesday. This terrible trend cannot continue.
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Surely the Longhorns have plenty of their own weapons, including Jabari Rice, who can dodge traffic on the gates, but they are frighteningly unable to find cheap baskets inside from their guards without outside help.
This shortcoming and errors in defense would have been enough to put an excellent and very athletic Texan team out of action. If the school decides to part ways with Byrd, it can be difficult for Terry to beat the administration, who always seems hell-bent on winning a big buzz press conference.
He could make a strong case for himself by taking the Longhorns deep into the tournament and, say, even to the Final Four. But he’s had as many winning seasons (five) as losing seasons (five) in his 10 years, and doesn’t have a single NCAA Tournament win on his resume.
That alone could force Texas to scour the country for Byrd’s mentor and try to find someone like the rejuvenated 46-year-old Brad Stevens of the Celtics front office, Nate Oates of Alabama, Eric Musselman of the Celtics. Arkansas or Brad Underwood in Illinois. Kelvin Sampson has made Houston the same power as Oklahoma, but is unlikely to budge.
But that’s far ahead, especially when Texas has a team of the caliber of this one capable of playing an extended roster in March.
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“Coach Terry did an incredible job,” said Tan of K-State. “They play at a very high level. There are no days off at the Big 12. You can’t let one defeat lead to two and you can’t turn the page quickly.”
Texas is at the start of the homestead with three of four games at the Moody Center, which was close to filling on Tuesday and was trying to ignite the Longhorns. They were the only Big 12 team to win on the road in Game 1, beating Oklahoma by a point. But they got that advantage back with this loss, and now they need to get rid of him quickly on the road against Oklahoma State on Saturday.
“We lost 58 points in the first half,” said Terry. “We just didn’t defend properly, but we have a chance to become an elite defensive team. This will be the focus until the end of the year.”
He certainly has evidence that proves the need for his team.
