The No. 8 Longhorns (8-1, 2-0), without three bench players, didn’t just leave Phog Allen Fieldhouse with Shaka Smart’s first road win versus the Big 12’s dominant blue blood. They emphatically made a statement they need to be taken very seriously as a Big 12 contender. Kansas head coach Bill Self never lost a home game at Kansas by more than 12 points. He lost by 25 today. The No. 8 Longhorns pounded No. 3 Kansas 84-59, and I’m not sure it was as close as the score says.
Here are 10 postgame thoughts:
Photo: @TexasMBB
1) Even in a blowout win against the No. 3 team in the country in an arena hardly anyone ever wins at, there are things I could nitpick with UT’s performance. But nitpicking today, at least to jumpstart a postgame column after a 25-point win at No. 3 Kansas (8-2, 2-1), is undoubtedly dumb. Enjoy this one, Texas fans.
Today was the best, by far, example of what Shaka Smart has been building at Texas. Has it taken a long, long time and has it been frustrating and maddening? Yeah. However, this is what Smart has been building. Today’s blowout win had Smart’s fingertips all over it from the opening Jericho Sims bucket to Donovan Williams chasing down a Kansas player and grabbing his layup attempt out of the air before swatting it.
“I don't know if it's a gift or a curse, but I can see it pretty good,” said Smart on what it looks like when a team is connected around the right goal. “Like, I can see when a guy's about trying to make the team win or when he’s not. We’re fortunate to have guys that are very, very locked in on trying to help each other and trying to go get a team win for each other. That goes a long way.”
The Longhorns overwhelmed Kansas with their length and athleticism on defense, particularly in the half-court. On offense, their three main guards combined to score 45 points, lived in the paint, and helped push the pace. Even when the Longhorns made mistakes, they made aggressive, overconfident mistakes. Perhaps the most striking thing about today’s win is how much more length and athleticism Texas had than Kansas. And the Longhorns used it against the Jayhawks over and over again.
This is what Shaka Smart has been building, and this team could be special.
“I mean if you want to label it that, yeah,” responded Smart when asked if this is what the Havoc mindset looks like. “Basketball is a game where the more aggressive team is going to have an advantage. And so that's the way that we've always tried to play any team I've ever been a part of. You have to fit what you do X and O-wise around the players on your team. And most importantly, they have to feel good about the way you're trying to play. Today our guys really did a good job of buying into the approach. We played with multiple efforts. And that really allowed us to be good on the defensive end.”
2) Texas never trailed in the game. It also never trailed in aggressiveness and confidence. Those things – winning and mindset – go together. All game you could see Texas players constantly talking to each other, holding each other accountable, and celebrating winning plays from the bench or on the court.
The best example of Texas’s confidence and mindset came when Kansas cut UT’s lead to four in the second half after Jalen Wilson’s three at the 17:23 mark. How did Texas respond? Andrew Jones buried a three off a Courtney Ramey assist and Matt Coleman soon followed with another from a Jones pass. Then on a fast break, Coleman found Courtney Ramey for a three to put Texas ahead by 12 and forced Self to use a timeout. Kansas came out of the timeout with a bucket, but Texas responded with another Ramey three, intent on not just beating Kansas. The Longhorns wanted to run them out of the damn gym. And they did.
“He doesn’t have a bone in his body that’s not 100% about winning,” Smart said about Ramey.
3) After the game, Coleman downplayed the adjustments made in the second half, but it did look like Texas quickly shut down with better wing defense what was allowing Kansas to free some shooters in the half-court. Offensively, Texas just got back to guards getting into the paint and either getting to the rim, freeing themselves for a mid-range shot, or finding an open three-point shooter.
Texas’s offense was so dominant attacking the paint through its ball screen actions that Kansas basically couldn’t play David McCormack. The moment McCormack, who was benched to start the second half, came in the game in the second half, Texas attacked him on the very first play with a ball screen and he fouled the guard. Coaching.
Speaking of coaching, when Texas opened a 16-point lead with 8:50 left and Kansas called another timeout, Smart used full-court press for the first time all game. Kansas promptly committed a five-second call out of a timeout. Smart’s reaction on the sideline was easily the most energetic of any person in the arena. Kansas is known for great inbounds plays. Texas shut them down with great scouting an execution. Texas was better prepared on offense, defense, mentally, and made better adjustments. Texas's adjusted offensive efficiency was 124.6 points per 100 possessions, and 74.4 on defense. That's an asskicking.
4) Jericho Sims didn’t just show up today. He was labeled by Smart as the most important player of the game.
“I thought he was the most important player in the game,” said Smart. “Our guards really controlled the game, and really played the way you want older guards to play. But Jericho was our defensive anchor. There's not a lot of guys that can bang with Dave McCormack, and then when Kansas goes small with five guards be out on the perimeter switching on the guards and moving his feet. And then the way rebounded really set a tone for us. I thought he was huge tonight. Better than his numbers indicate.”
Hell, maybe the biggest upset today wasn’t the margin of victory. Sims smiled in the second half! Sims set the tone for his team with a strong start to the game, and finished with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting (1-of-2 from the free throw line) with 12 rebounds, one assist, two turnovers, just two fouls and one block in 27 minutes. Midway through the first half, Sims grabbed an alley-oop pass from the heavens and slammed it down in a crowd.
Sims matched McCormack’s strength in the interior and won the battle on the glass; when Kansas then went small, Sims’s athleticism and footspeed around the perimeter allowed him to handle anything Kansas threw at him. This could be a big turning point this season for Sims.
When asked about all three guards clicking, Ramey made it a point to single out Sims’s play and how proud he was of his performance. The junior guard stated players have challenged Sims and been tough on him because they know he’s capable of this.
5) Kansas entered the game one of the best three-point percentage teams in the country and bombed away against West Virginia. Texas entered the game one of the best three-point percentage defenses and with an excellent track record of limiting three-point attempts.
Kansas finished 3-of-23 from beyond the arc while Texas finished 12-of-26. Texas’s aggressiveness and length around the perimeter really bothered Kansas the entire first half, and even in the second half when Kansas did get some open looks, it shot them like it was thinking about UT’s length and athleticism.
Meanwhile, Texas, after forcing some triples in the first half, connected on 8-of-13 second-half threes and I can recall maybe one late being a bad shot. The Longhorns created open looks around the perimeter, and confidently stepped into and made catch-and-shoot opportunities. The Longhorns played eight players. Only Sims didn’t attempt and make a three.
6) Texas beat Kansas by 25 points and Greg Brown scored just five points with four turnovers in 16 minutes. That’s how good of a total team effort Texas played with. While Cunningham didn’t stuff the box score, I thought his wing defense helped steady UT’s half-court defense in the second half. Williams continues to improve and had a couple of highlight-reel blocks with eight points on 2-of-9 shooting.
Kai Jones closed the first half with a stretch of shotmaking and playmaking sure to make NBA scouts drool. After making a corner three, he blew by McCormack from the top of the key and needed basically just one step to get from beyond the free throw line to the rim for a layup.
7) Okay, so the one nitpick would be how loose Texas was with the basketball in the first half when the pace of the game sped up their confidence and decision-making with the ball. Texas committed 10 first-half turnovers, and Kansas probably should have trailed by 15-20 considering it couldn’t muster much of anything against UT’s defense when Texas didn’t gift it transition chances.
When the pace of the game slowed in the second half, it was Texas that emerged supreme with better half-court execution on both ends of the floor.
8) I can’t get over the way this game ended. Texas didn’t just sit on the lead and dribble the clock out before jacking up some bad perimeter shot. They kept attacking, flying around, and darting into the lane with the full intention to dunk on someone. Even Coleman flew by a defender late in the game and threw down a vicious one-handed slam. Williams tried to dunk on half the Kansas defense at one point but was fouled. Jones made back-to-back crafty left-handed finishes at the rim after beating his man. Kai Jones tried to find highlights at any opportunity.
All against No. 3 Kansas in its house. And I don’t think this was Texas releasing years of frustration. I think these are how these guys are presently wired. They truly think they belong and can beat anyone. Right now, who’s to say they can’t?
9) We’ll see how Texas responds from this, but based on the postgame comments, I’m not expecting the Longhorns to get too high. It was almost like Texas wasn’t really that impressed with what it just did because it expects to play like this no matter who it’s playing.
“It's a long year. I don't want to get so high off of this win. We still have 16 more conference games to play. Anything can happen,” said Coleman. “Going in, I love my chances for my team. Just how hard we’re going to play every day in practice, and how we’re going to carry it over.”
10) Up next for the Longhorns is a home game Tuesday against Iowa State. The Longhorns will be heavily against one of the weakest teams in the league. And their maturity and approach will be tested coming down from this high. But they should have your full attention because we just saw something today we haven’t seen in a long, long, long time.
(lost in the shuffle of today's win was Texas announcing Gerald Liddell was leaving the program and Royce Hamm and Kamaka Hepa didn't make the trip due to COVID protocols.)
Here are 10 postgame thoughts:
Photo: @TexasMBB
1) Even in a blowout win against the No. 3 team in the country in an arena hardly anyone ever wins at, there are things I could nitpick with UT’s performance. But nitpicking today, at least to jumpstart a postgame column after a 25-point win at No. 3 Kansas (8-2, 2-1), is undoubtedly dumb. Enjoy this one, Texas fans.
Today was the best, by far, example of what Shaka Smart has been building at Texas. Has it taken a long, long time and has it been frustrating and maddening? Yeah. However, this is what Smart has been building. Today’s blowout win had Smart’s fingertips all over it from the opening Jericho Sims bucket to Donovan Williams chasing down a Kansas player and grabbing his layup attempt out of the air before swatting it.
“I don't know if it's a gift or a curse, but I can see it pretty good,” said Smart on what it looks like when a team is connected around the right goal. “Like, I can see when a guy's about trying to make the team win or when he’s not. We’re fortunate to have guys that are very, very locked in on trying to help each other and trying to go get a team win for each other. That goes a long way.”
The Longhorns overwhelmed Kansas with their length and athleticism on defense, particularly in the half-court. On offense, their three main guards combined to score 45 points, lived in the paint, and helped push the pace. Even when the Longhorns made mistakes, they made aggressive, overconfident mistakes. Perhaps the most striking thing about today’s win is how much more length and athleticism Texas had than Kansas. And the Longhorns used it against the Jayhawks over and over again.
This is what Shaka Smart has been building, and this team could be special.
“I mean if you want to label it that, yeah,” responded Smart when asked if this is what the Havoc mindset looks like. “Basketball is a game where the more aggressive team is going to have an advantage. And so that's the way that we've always tried to play any team I've ever been a part of. You have to fit what you do X and O-wise around the players on your team. And most importantly, they have to feel good about the way you're trying to play. Today our guys really did a good job of buying into the approach. We played with multiple efforts. And that really allowed us to be good on the defensive end.”
2) Texas never trailed in the game. It also never trailed in aggressiveness and confidence. Those things – winning and mindset – go together. All game you could see Texas players constantly talking to each other, holding each other accountable, and celebrating winning plays from the bench or on the court.
The best example of Texas’s confidence and mindset came when Kansas cut UT’s lead to four in the second half after Jalen Wilson’s three at the 17:23 mark. How did Texas respond? Andrew Jones buried a three off a Courtney Ramey assist and Matt Coleman soon followed with another from a Jones pass. Then on a fast break, Coleman found Courtney Ramey for a three to put Texas ahead by 12 and forced Self to use a timeout. Kansas came out of the timeout with a bucket, but Texas responded with another Ramey three, intent on not just beating Kansas. The Longhorns wanted to run them out of the damn gym. And they did.
“He doesn’t have a bone in his body that’s not 100% about winning,” Smart said about Ramey.
3) After the game, Coleman downplayed the adjustments made in the second half, but it did look like Texas quickly shut down with better wing defense what was allowing Kansas to free some shooters in the half-court. Offensively, Texas just got back to guards getting into the paint and either getting to the rim, freeing themselves for a mid-range shot, or finding an open three-point shooter.
Texas’s offense was so dominant attacking the paint through its ball screen actions that Kansas basically couldn’t play David McCormack. The moment McCormack, who was benched to start the second half, came in the game in the second half, Texas attacked him on the very first play with a ball screen and he fouled the guard. Coaching.
Speaking of coaching, when Texas opened a 16-point lead with 8:50 left and Kansas called another timeout, Smart used full-court press for the first time all game. Kansas promptly committed a five-second call out of a timeout. Smart’s reaction on the sideline was easily the most energetic of any person in the arena. Kansas is known for great inbounds plays. Texas shut them down with great scouting an execution. Texas was better prepared on offense, defense, mentally, and made better adjustments. Texas's adjusted offensive efficiency was 124.6 points per 100 possessions, and 74.4 on defense. That's an asskicking.
4) Jericho Sims didn’t just show up today. He was labeled by Smart as the most important player of the game.
“I thought he was the most important player in the game,” said Smart. “Our guards really controlled the game, and really played the way you want older guards to play. But Jericho was our defensive anchor. There's not a lot of guys that can bang with Dave McCormack, and then when Kansas goes small with five guards be out on the perimeter switching on the guards and moving his feet. And then the way rebounded really set a tone for us. I thought he was huge tonight. Better than his numbers indicate.”
Hell, maybe the biggest upset today wasn’t the margin of victory. Sims smiled in the second half! Sims set the tone for his team with a strong start to the game, and finished with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting (1-of-2 from the free throw line) with 12 rebounds, one assist, two turnovers, just two fouls and one block in 27 minutes. Midway through the first half, Sims grabbed an alley-oop pass from the heavens and slammed it down in a crowd.
Sims matched McCormack’s strength in the interior and won the battle on the glass; when Kansas then went small, Sims’s athleticism and footspeed around the perimeter allowed him to handle anything Kansas threw at him. This could be a big turning point this season for Sims.
When asked about all three guards clicking, Ramey made it a point to single out Sims’s play and how proud he was of his performance. The junior guard stated players have challenged Sims and been tough on him because they know he’s capable of this.
5) Kansas entered the game one of the best three-point percentage teams in the country and bombed away against West Virginia. Texas entered the game one of the best three-point percentage defenses and with an excellent track record of limiting three-point attempts.
Kansas finished 3-of-23 from beyond the arc while Texas finished 12-of-26. Texas’s aggressiveness and length around the perimeter really bothered Kansas the entire first half, and even in the second half when Kansas did get some open looks, it shot them like it was thinking about UT’s length and athleticism.
Meanwhile, Texas, after forcing some triples in the first half, connected on 8-of-13 second-half threes and I can recall maybe one late being a bad shot. The Longhorns created open looks around the perimeter, and confidently stepped into and made catch-and-shoot opportunities. The Longhorns played eight players. Only Sims didn’t attempt and make a three.
6) Texas beat Kansas by 25 points and Greg Brown scored just five points with four turnovers in 16 minutes. That’s how good of a total team effort Texas played with. While Cunningham didn’t stuff the box score, I thought his wing defense helped steady UT’s half-court defense in the second half. Williams continues to improve and had a couple of highlight-reel blocks with eight points on 2-of-9 shooting.
Kai Jones closed the first half with a stretch of shotmaking and playmaking sure to make NBA scouts drool. After making a corner three, he blew by McCormack from the top of the key and needed basically just one step to get from beyond the free throw line to the rim for a layup.
7) Okay, so the one nitpick would be how loose Texas was with the basketball in the first half when the pace of the game sped up their confidence and decision-making with the ball. Texas committed 10 first-half turnovers, and Kansas probably should have trailed by 15-20 considering it couldn’t muster much of anything against UT’s defense when Texas didn’t gift it transition chances.
When the pace of the game slowed in the second half, it was Texas that emerged supreme with better half-court execution on both ends of the floor.
8) I can’t get over the way this game ended. Texas didn’t just sit on the lead and dribble the clock out before jacking up some bad perimeter shot. They kept attacking, flying around, and darting into the lane with the full intention to dunk on someone. Even Coleman flew by a defender late in the game and threw down a vicious one-handed slam. Williams tried to dunk on half the Kansas defense at one point but was fouled. Jones made back-to-back crafty left-handed finishes at the rim after beating his man. Kai Jones tried to find highlights at any opportunity.
All against No. 3 Kansas in its house. And I don’t think this was Texas releasing years of frustration. I think these are how these guys are presently wired. They truly think they belong and can beat anyone. Right now, who’s to say they can’t?
9) We’ll see how Texas responds from this, but based on the postgame comments, I’m not expecting the Longhorns to get too high. It was almost like Texas wasn’t really that impressed with what it just did because it expects to play like this no matter who it’s playing.
“It's a long year. I don't want to get so high off of this win. We still have 16 more conference games to play. Anything can happen,” said Coleman. “Going in, I love my chances for my team. Just how hard we’re going to play every day in practice, and how we’re going to carry it over.”
10) Up next for the Longhorns is a home game Tuesday against Iowa State. The Longhorns will be heavily against one of the weakest teams in the league. And their maturity and approach will be tested coming down from this high. But they should have your full attention because we just saw something today we haven’t seen in a long, long, long time.
(lost in the shuffle of today's win was Texas announcing Gerald Liddell was leaving the program and Royce Hamm and Kamaka Hepa didn't make the trip due to COVID protocols.)
