The Longhorns (18-13, 8-10) took the Erwin Center floor this morning highly aware of what was at stake.
They knew, just like their fans, the significance of today’s regular-season finale versus No. 19 West Virginia (22-9, 11-7). They knew to beat one of the best teams in a tough league, they’d have to do it without Andrew Jones, Eric Davis, Jr., and Mohamed Bamba. They knew a loss today would make a NCAA Tournament berth very unlikely.
Instead of cracking under the pressure, Texas played one of its best games of the season, and beat West Virginia 87-79 in overtime. Here are 10 postgame thoughts:
1) Texas knew it was in for a fight against West Virginia, and the Mountaineers, as they usually do, took the floor aggressive and ready to battle.
“I’m happy the way our guys came together. West Virginia is a team that if you don’t stay connected they can take their will from you. We’ve experienced that a month and a half ago. We had to stay together and have a level of pride and spirit to make sure we didn’t have our will taken away from us,” Shaka Smart said.
So, last night before the game, Smart showed the team a clip from one his favorite documentaries – Legendary Nights. The documentary focuses on the three fights between boxers Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward. Smart’s message following the 10-minute viewing session: the Longhorns were going to be in 10 four-minute fights against West Virginia.
“One of my favorite documentaries ever. It’s called Legendary Nights. And it’s about the trilogy of three fights between Ward and Gotti and the relationship they developed between two of them because they were both never-say-die underdog fighters,” Smart said. “I showed the guys about 10 minutes of it last night. It was about their first fight, and our theme for this game was we’re going to have to play 10 four-minute rounds, and we have to win the majority of those rounds. Turned out we had to play more than that, but I thought the guys took a real good fighters’ mentality.
What they didn’t know is it would actually be more than that.
After seemingly have the game wrapped up in regulation with a 72-70 lead and 5.6 seconds left, Kerwin Roach, II took a poor route and slipped fighting through a screen. He then trailed Jevon Carter up the floor, who flew threw traffic and converted the tough layup to force overtime.
Smart’s message was not to worry – move on to the next play. It represented Texas the entire game, who showed today the best representation of what it preaches all season about playing for each other, and playing aggressive, confident, and loose.
“At the end of regulation, Snoop was really upset we gave up that basket. I said, ‘Snoop, next play, man. Next play.’ And he hung in there, put the right look on his face, and attacked," said Smart about his message in the huddle before overtime.
So often West Virginia made big play after big play and didn’t once lack interest in the game. When the Longhorns had a chance to finally go for the knockout punch, they delivered.
“I think it shows competitive character on the part of these guys because when you get in situations when you know what you have to do, and you know it’s going to be hard, guys that are not good competitors shrink,” said Smart when asked what today’s game says about his players. “And they’re not who they need to be in that moment. I thought for the most part our guys were. We’re undermanned. We’re hopeful we’re going to get Mo (Bamba) back. That would obviously be a huge lift, and Mo is very optimistic he’s going to come back. But I thought our guys with the guys we had today gave great fight.”
2) Even as overtime – Jericho Sims won the tip, but Carter accelerated to grab the ball and run down for a layup – didn’t start the way Texas wanted, it didn’t blink. With 3:42 left in overtime, Roach drove and found Matt Coleman in the corner for three-point range to put Texas in front 76-74.
The gigantic three-pointer ignited a 10-0 run by the Longhorns over 1:50. After corralling a WVU miss from deep, Texas scrambled to beat the full-court pressure from the road team and created some rocky moments. However, Texas kept its composure enough, and Roach ended up finishing the possession late in the clock by slicing through the defense to drop off a nifty pass to Sims for a slam. After West Virginia missed another three-pointer, Coleman grabbed the rebound, pushed it up the floor and found a wide-open Jacob Young in the deep wing area in front of the Texas bench.
The sophomore guard, who has really sparked his team the last few games, stepped into the shot, and knocked down the biggest one he’s made in his young Texas career. Now ahead 81-74, the Longhorns collected another deep miss and Coleman capped the run with a reverse layup to beat the big shot-blocker Sagaba Konate.
From there, the Longhorns did what they needed to on defense, made enough free throws, and were able to dribble-out the clock.
“We really want to get into the tournament,” said Smart when asked what this ment for his program considering where it is currently. “It was really important from that standpoint. You have to be careful though because you can’t build up this mindset in your head that if a certain game doesn’t go your way, you’re going to jump off the top of a building because you just don’t want guys thinking that way. You don’t want your staff thinking that way.
“But yeah it was a big game. Wednesday will be a big game. We have to be big boys. We have to understand no matter what happens we have to focus on the next play. They forced overtime. That’s tough. We have to focus on the next play. They got the opening tip… Jericho tipped it and Carter comes up with the ball and lays it up. Okay, next play.”
3) The scene to end the game was fascinating to watch. On the floor stood Roach, Young, Coleman, Osetkowski, and Sims. Roach was as animated as he’s ever been at Texas and the excitement and relief just poured out of him in the form of a swinging right fist through the air and celebratory yelling. Coleman had a gigantic grin on his face as he looked towards the crowd. Young and Osetkowski pumped up the crowd, and the Longhorn faithful, who played a role in the victory, energetically and loudly embraced a terrific effort.
“It shows that we can compete with anybody regardless of who we have on the team. As long as we believe in each other and just fight and keep competing, we can compete with anybody,” said Roach.
Texas needed this game today for NCAA purposes, but the UT program and its fans also needed it just to feel some good vibes. For a chance, a Texas team came up huge in a season-defining moment.
Coleman, Roach, and Sims all finished with career-highs in scoring.
4) The senior West Virginia duo of Carter and Daxter Miles, Jr. has been responsible for a lot of winning in the Big 12, and also responsible for totally disrupting and overwhelming opposing guards. If the Longhorns were going to win, they needed Roach and Coleman to play well.
The Texas duo responded with 44 combined points, six rebounds, 11 assists, eight turnovers, two blocks, and two steals in 86 minutes. More importantly, they outscored WVU’s duo by 28 and shot 12 more free throws.
In the first half, Roach and Coleman committed six (five by Roach) of Texas’s 10 turnovers, which resulted in 15 points off turnovers. In the second period and overtime, the duo turned it over just twice, and Texas committed just four turnovers in the final 25 minutes.
“I told Matt and Snoop, ‘Hey, they have two senior guards that have been doing this longer than anybody and they’re tough and aggressive. You’re going to have to outplay those guys, or at least play even with them for us to have a chance,” stated Texas’s head coach. “I thought their approach was terrific.”
5) When it was time to win the game, the ball was put in the hands of Roach and Coleman. Texas kept it simple offensively, and against a team like West Virginia, it’s hard to get into a deep, diverse offense after barely beating a full-court press.
“The way those guys play you’re not going to run a bunch of cute little plays because they do a great job of blowing it up,” Smart said about West Virginia’s defense. “So, for us we wanted to put the ball in those guys’ hands, get them going downhill, [and] get those guys finding the open man. We talked about Konata being a great shot-blocker and not forcing shots against him. Felt for the most part we did a nice job of that.”
It wasn’t the exact same play, but Texas again went to a half-court set that positioned the bigs together at the top of the key with one breaking out to the wing, and the other toward the paint. Even though it didn’t always generate a good look, it created spacing and downhill chances.
Texas finished with 1.23 points per possession, a great number against a good West Virginia defense. A big reason for that efficient of a performance: Texas shot 11-of-19 from three-point range, and made it to the free throw line 17 more times than West Virginia.
6) Jericho Sims was again so good that we don’t have to discuss his potential. We can discuss how good he is now.
“What impressed me most about him today was his free throws… one of my favorite guys I’ve ever been around as a person… The thing that he’s done lately is he’s actually played,” Smart stated. “It’s one thing to talk about upside, and where a guy is going to be down the road. But he’s actually [making] plays. I thought he was huge gabbing the ball for us and finishing around the basket.”
The freshman announced his presence loudly by blowing by Konata and throwing down an emphatic dunk on him during one of the game’s first possessions.
“Well… my teammates have been encouraging me to do that. Konata, he’s such a good shot-blocker, and also I was trying to get revenge from last time we played them,” said Sims with a big smile.
Sims finished with 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting (5-of-8 from the free throw line) with eight rebounds, no turnovers, one steal and 36 minutes. Amongst men, he was often a beast and never scared.
7) Give credit to Texas for executing a unique 2-3 zone defense that often included switching in certain areas. It’s not often teams switch in a zone defense, and it’s not often a young team can execute that without blowing assignments and switches against a good opponent.
West Virginia still had its moments of solid offense, but the switch to that style of zone defense through off the rhythm and neutralized Carter.
8) This was one of the most entertaining Big 12 games of the season. Both teams kept making plays and the second it looked like one team might be in trouble, that team immediately responded. It literally went back-and-forth for nearly all 40 minutes and overtime.
9) Could Mohamed Bamba, who was on the UT bench today in sweats, return for the Big 12 Tournament? This is what Smart said:
"I think there's a really good chance he will play at some point. I'm not in his body, so I don't know exactly how that's feeling. He wants to play. That's one thing that's really exciting," Smart said. "I think winning today helps. But, we're really optimistic he's going to play at some point hopefully in Kansas City."
10) The Longhorns have now won four-straight home games in Big 12 play over AP top 20 teams. Although today’s win likely punched their ticket to the Big Dance, the Longhorns aren’t viewing it that way. They want more, and they feel like they’re truly understanding what it means to play for each other and play at the level they need to.
“This was the best with the most on the line,” responded Smart when asked if today’s win was the best representation of his team understanding and implementing what it practices and preaches so much.
They knew, just like their fans, the significance of today’s regular-season finale versus No. 19 West Virginia (22-9, 11-7). They knew to beat one of the best teams in a tough league, they’d have to do it without Andrew Jones, Eric Davis, Jr., and Mohamed Bamba. They knew a loss today would make a NCAA Tournament berth very unlikely.
Instead of cracking under the pressure, Texas played one of its best games of the season, and beat West Virginia 87-79 in overtime. Here are 10 postgame thoughts:
1) Texas knew it was in for a fight against West Virginia, and the Mountaineers, as they usually do, took the floor aggressive and ready to battle.
“I’m happy the way our guys came together. West Virginia is a team that if you don’t stay connected they can take their will from you. We’ve experienced that a month and a half ago. We had to stay together and have a level of pride and spirit to make sure we didn’t have our will taken away from us,” Shaka Smart said.
So, last night before the game, Smart showed the team a clip from one his favorite documentaries – Legendary Nights. The documentary focuses on the three fights between boxers Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward. Smart’s message following the 10-minute viewing session: the Longhorns were going to be in 10 four-minute fights against West Virginia.
“One of my favorite documentaries ever. It’s called Legendary Nights. And it’s about the trilogy of three fights between Ward and Gotti and the relationship they developed between two of them because they were both never-say-die underdog fighters,” Smart said. “I showed the guys about 10 minutes of it last night. It was about their first fight, and our theme for this game was we’re going to have to play 10 four-minute rounds, and we have to win the majority of those rounds. Turned out we had to play more than that, but I thought the guys took a real good fighters’ mentality.
What they didn’t know is it would actually be more than that.
After seemingly have the game wrapped up in regulation with a 72-70 lead and 5.6 seconds left, Kerwin Roach, II took a poor route and slipped fighting through a screen. He then trailed Jevon Carter up the floor, who flew threw traffic and converted the tough layup to force overtime.
Smart’s message was not to worry – move on to the next play. It represented Texas the entire game, who showed today the best representation of what it preaches all season about playing for each other, and playing aggressive, confident, and loose.
“At the end of regulation, Snoop was really upset we gave up that basket. I said, ‘Snoop, next play, man. Next play.’ And he hung in there, put the right look on his face, and attacked," said Smart about his message in the huddle before overtime.
So often West Virginia made big play after big play and didn’t once lack interest in the game. When the Longhorns had a chance to finally go for the knockout punch, they delivered.
“I think it shows competitive character on the part of these guys because when you get in situations when you know what you have to do, and you know it’s going to be hard, guys that are not good competitors shrink,” said Smart when asked what today’s game says about his players. “And they’re not who they need to be in that moment. I thought for the most part our guys were. We’re undermanned. We’re hopeful we’re going to get Mo (Bamba) back. That would obviously be a huge lift, and Mo is very optimistic he’s going to come back. But I thought our guys with the guys we had today gave great fight.”
2) Even as overtime – Jericho Sims won the tip, but Carter accelerated to grab the ball and run down for a layup – didn’t start the way Texas wanted, it didn’t blink. With 3:42 left in overtime, Roach drove and found Matt Coleman in the corner for three-point range to put Texas in front 76-74.
The gigantic three-pointer ignited a 10-0 run by the Longhorns over 1:50. After corralling a WVU miss from deep, Texas scrambled to beat the full-court pressure from the road team and created some rocky moments. However, Texas kept its composure enough, and Roach ended up finishing the possession late in the clock by slicing through the defense to drop off a nifty pass to Sims for a slam. After West Virginia missed another three-pointer, Coleman grabbed the rebound, pushed it up the floor and found a wide-open Jacob Young in the deep wing area in front of the Texas bench.
The sophomore guard, who has really sparked his team the last few games, stepped into the shot, and knocked down the biggest one he’s made in his young Texas career. Now ahead 81-74, the Longhorns collected another deep miss and Coleman capped the run with a reverse layup to beat the big shot-blocker Sagaba Konate.
From there, the Longhorns did what they needed to on defense, made enough free throws, and were able to dribble-out the clock.
“We really want to get into the tournament,” said Smart when asked what this ment for his program considering where it is currently. “It was really important from that standpoint. You have to be careful though because you can’t build up this mindset in your head that if a certain game doesn’t go your way, you’re going to jump off the top of a building because you just don’t want guys thinking that way. You don’t want your staff thinking that way.
“But yeah it was a big game. Wednesday will be a big game. We have to be big boys. We have to understand no matter what happens we have to focus on the next play. They forced overtime. That’s tough. We have to focus on the next play. They got the opening tip… Jericho tipped it and Carter comes up with the ball and lays it up. Okay, next play.”
3) The scene to end the game was fascinating to watch. On the floor stood Roach, Young, Coleman, Osetkowski, and Sims. Roach was as animated as he’s ever been at Texas and the excitement and relief just poured out of him in the form of a swinging right fist through the air and celebratory yelling. Coleman had a gigantic grin on his face as he looked towards the crowd. Young and Osetkowski pumped up the crowd, and the Longhorn faithful, who played a role in the victory, energetically and loudly embraced a terrific effort.
“It shows that we can compete with anybody regardless of who we have on the team. As long as we believe in each other and just fight and keep competing, we can compete with anybody,” said Roach.
Texas needed this game today for NCAA purposes, but the UT program and its fans also needed it just to feel some good vibes. For a chance, a Texas team came up huge in a season-defining moment.
Coleman, Roach, and Sims all finished with career-highs in scoring.
4) The senior West Virginia duo of Carter and Daxter Miles, Jr. has been responsible for a lot of winning in the Big 12, and also responsible for totally disrupting and overwhelming opposing guards. If the Longhorns were going to win, they needed Roach and Coleman to play well.
The Texas duo responded with 44 combined points, six rebounds, 11 assists, eight turnovers, two blocks, and two steals in 86 minutes. More importantly, they outscored WVU’s duo by 28 and shot 12 more free throws.
In the first half, Roach and Coleman committed six (five by Roach) of Texas’s 10 turnovers, which resulted in 15 points off turnovers. In the second period and overtime, the duo turned it over just twice, and Texas committed just four turnovers in the final 25 minutes.
“I told Matt and Snoop, ‘Hey, they have two senior guards that have been doing this longer than anybody and they’re tough and aggressive. You’re going to have to outplay those guys, or at least play even with them for us to have a chance,” stated Texas’s head coach. “I thought their approach was terrific.”
5) When it was time to win the game, the ball was put in the hands of Roach and Coleman. Texas kept it simple offensively, and against a team like West Virginia, it’s hard to get into a deep, diverse offense after barely beating a full-court press.
“The way those guys play you’re not going to run a bunch of cute little plays because they do a great job of blowing it up,” Smart said about West Virginia’s defense. “So, for us we wanted to put the ball in those guys’ hands, get them going downhill, [and] get those guys finding the open man. We talked about Konata being a great shot-blocker and not forcing shots against him. Felt for the most part we did a nice job of that.”
It wasn’t the exact same play, but Texas again went to a half-court set that positioned the bigs together at the top of the key with one breaking out to the wing, and the other toward the paint. Even though it didn’t always generate a good look, it created spacing and downhill chances.
Texas finished with 1.23 points per possession, a great number against a good West Virginia defense. A big reason for that efficient of a performance: Texas shot 11-of-19 from three-point range, and made it to the free throw line 17 more times than West Virginia.
6) Jericho Sims was again so good that we don’t have to discuss his potential. We can discuss how good he is now.
“What impressed me most about him today was his free throws… one of my favorite guys I’ve ever been around as a person… The thing that he’s done lately is he’s actually played,” Smart stated. “It’s one thing to talk about upside, and where a guy is going to be down the road. But he’s actually [making] plays. I thought he was huge gabbing the ball for us and finishing around the basket.”
The freshman announced his presence loudly by blowing by Konata and throwing down an emphatic dunk on him during one of the game’s first possessions.
“Well… my teammates have been encouraging me to do that. Konata, he’s such a good shot-blocker, and also I was trying to get revenge from last time we played them,” said Sims with a big smile.
Sims finished with 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting (5-of-8 from the free throw line) with eight rebounds, no turnovers, one steal and 36 minutes. Amongst men, he was often a beast and never scared.
7) Give credit to Texas for executing a unique 2-3 zone defense that often included switching in certain areas. It’s not often teams switch in a zone defense, and it’s not often a young team can execute that without blowing assignments and switches against a good opponent.
West Virginia still had its moments of solid offense, but the switch to that style of zone defense through off the rhythm and neutralized Carter.
8) This was one of the most entertaining Big 12 games of the season. Both teams kept making plays and the second it looked like one team might be in trouble, that team immediately responded. It literally went back-and-forth for nearly all 40 minutes and overtime.
9) Could Mohamed Bamba, who was on the UT bench today in sweats, return for the Big 12 Tournament? This is what Smart said:
"I think there's a really good chance he will play at some point. I'm not in his body, so I don't know exactly how that's feeling. He wants to play. That's one thing that's really exciting," Smart said. "I think winning today helps. But, we're really optimistic he's going to play at some point hopefully in Kansas City."
10) The Longhorns have now won four-straight home games in Big 12 play over AP top 20 teams. Although today’s win likely punched their ticket to the Big Dance, the Longhorns aren’t viewing it that way. They want more, and they feel like they’re truly understanding what it means to play for each other and play at the level they need to.
“This was the best with the most on the line,” responded Smart when asked if today’s win was the best representation of his team understanding and implementing what it practices and preaches so much.
