The question that faced Texas: Could it follow its Oklahoma State win with another solid, back-to-back performance in which it didn’t hurt itself?
On the road against Iowa State (10-4, 2-1), the Longhorns (7-8, 1-2) found themselves right in the game down the stretch, but again hurt themselves too much in what was already a tough challenge. That resulted in a 79-70 Cyclones win. Here are 10 postgame thoughts:
1) Winning on the road is hard in the Big 12, especially against a solid Iowa State team that starts five seniors. What makes winning on the road more difficult against a team like that? A young team committing 19 turnovers, and a veteran team turning that into 20 points.
Although they had a few issues here-and-there, Texas’ point guard duo of Andrew Jones and Kerwin Roach, Jr. committed just six total in 66 minutes. Both guards played impressive games.
Roach scored 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting (4-of-4 from three-point range and 3-of-6 at the free throw line) with two rebounds, five assists, three turnovers, one block and one steal in 37 minutes. His freshman teammate in the backcourt, Jones, added 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting (2-of-3 from beyond the arc and 2-of-3 from the free throw line) with seven rebounds, two assists, and three turnovers in 29 minutes. They weren’t perfect on defense, but they had some solid stretches, particularly Roach.
What really hurt Texas was freshman Jarrett Allen committing seven, including six in the first half. A willing and able passer that’s been doubled-teamed almost all season, Allen was surprisingly overwhelmed by an Iowa State defense that lacked length and size when it doubled.
Of Texas’ 19 turnovers, 12 resulted in steals, which means Iowa State was often off and running against a Texas defense that couldn’t get back. At one point late in the first half, Texas had 11 turnovers and Iowa State had zero.
2) The even more frustrating part for Texas has to be what it did on offense when it didn’t turn the ball over. Against what was the No. 11 defensive efficiency team and the No. 11 effective field goal percentage defense, Texas shot 52.9 percent from the floor (including 8-of-16 from three-point range), and that number wasn’t weighted heavily by one great performance and one bad one.
Unfortunately for the Longhorns, a big problem was that Iowa State attempted 14 more field goals despite finishing with just two more offensive rebounds. And the Cyclones shot 18 more field goal attempts than Texas in the first half.
3) Somehow, the Longhorns avoided being run out of the gym despite all the turnovers. The first half was an uptempo, back-and-forth affair until the final 1:15.
Iowa State led 35-31, and after it missed a three, freshman Jacob Young, who had his first deer-in-the-headlights game on offense this season, committed a turnover. Iowa State then finished the half with a Monte Morris jumper, and then Iowa State put Shaquille Cleare in the pick-and-roll spincycle, which led to a pick-and-pop three for Deonte Burton.
At the half, what was basically a three-point lead either way – Texas actually led 17-13 midway through the first half – the previous nine minutes turned into a nine-point Iowa State lead.
4) Speaking of Cleare and the pick-and-roll, Iowa State went right at him every time he was on the floor with either Burton one-on-one, or Morris and Burton in pick-and-roll. To be fair, Burton torched nearly everyone besides a few times when Roach drew a charge and Allen slowed him down. But Cleare’s deficiencies on defense were highlighted so much by Iowa State you could see them from space.
Burton finished with 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting (3-of-4 from three-point range), five rebounds, three assists, four turnovers, two blocks, and two steals. Morris added 22 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, zero turnovers, and two steals in 38 minutes. The Iowa State duo combined for 20 of its 32 made field goals.
Cleare played 14 minutes and scored six points with seven rebounds, and was productive on offense when he was able to get touches. Freshman James Banks played an energetic eight minutes with some bright spots on defense.
5) It was this kind of night for the Longhorns: Roach made an impressive, aggressive drive to the paint, and tried to throw down a dunk. But he started his jump too far away, didn’t get enough lift, and was rejected by the rim, which was the second time in the game a Texas player had an open dunk denied by the rim.
It could have been 49-45 Iowa State with around 13 minutes left, but instead Iowa State turned that into 51-43. Then, Texas was caught with Cleare on the floor, Burton checked in, and he scored seven straight points with a three, a driving layup, and a dunk as a rolling option out of pick-and-roll.
6) Despite being down 13 at that point with 9:46 remaining, the Longhorns fought back. Over the next 3:04, Texas went on a 13-4 run to cut the Cyclones’ lead to just 62-58.
During that stretch, Roach hit two three-pointers, Jones hit a three from the corner, Allen received a good feed from Roach for a dunk, and Tevin Mack decided he was going to drive through someone for a layup. Texas kept possessions alive with offensive rebounds, assisted on makes, and didn’t turn the basketball over.
When Iowa State hit back-to-back threes to push the lead up to eight, Texas responded with another Jones corner three, and a nifty hook shot in the paint by Allen to put Texas within distance at 70-65 with 2:24 remaining.
But Texas had no answer for Burton down the stretch.
The best representation of a veteran team, with a good point guard, versus a young group trying to make it work with two talented but young combo guards came when Texas trapped Morris out of a pick-and-roll about 35 feet from the rim. But instead of panicking, the senior pulled the ball out with four seconds left on the shot clock, found a cutter near the free throw line, who made an easy pass for a layup. That layup made it 77-70 after Roach connected on a triple Texas’ previous possession.
7) Texas ran into a tough situation against Iowa State. On one hand, the Longhorns had a lot of success pushing tempo, and attacked the rim well when it wasn’t turning the ball over. On the other hand, Texas also had an advantage inside on offense when it worked the ball in there, once Allen settled down (11 points on 5-of-10 shooting with seven rebounds and three blocks) in the second half, and Burton struggled when he was forced to defend bigs in the paint.
So, Texas bounced back-and-forth between going small and going big. The problem came during stretches when Texas tried to play fast with a big lineup, which nullified its offensive strength somewhat and Iowa State’s lineup gave it issues on defense. And then also the Longhorns at times struggled for stretches with a small group that wasn’t able to get out and run enough.
Credit Iowa State for getting the game to be played at its speed a little bit more than the Longhorns during key stretches.
8) Texas received just three points from its bench. However, it was a surprising to see Eric Davis, Jr. not more involved. The sophomore, coming off his best game of the season, did play 19 minutes. But Texas could have used him some more. His energy made an impact on both ends often, and he made good decisions on offense; he looked like he was ready to score 10-plus points and spark stretches, but he never really got into the flow of the game long enough when he was on the floor.
Tevin Mack didn’t get many touches early, but once he got them he started to produce. The sophomore finished with 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting (2-of-6 from three-point range and 1-of-2 from the free throw line) with six rebounds, one assist, two turnovers and a block in 34 minutes. At times, he provided a spark on defense, including a stretch in the second half when he defended Morris. However, he also lacked defensive presence and energy for stretches too.
9) Small sample size alert, but this is worth noting:
Through three Big 12 games, Roach leads the conference in effective field goal percentage (73.8), free throw rate, and three-point percentage (5-of-7). He’s also No. 4 in true shooting percentage, No. 9 in assist rate, No. 14 in offensive rating, No. 22 in blocked shot percentage, and No. 21 in steal percentage. Plus, on offense his Big 12 shooting percentage rate is just 15.0 (20.9 percent over the entire season), so not only is he scoring efficiently, but he’s getting others involved and not forcing it.
He’s showing legitimate progress, and Jones is starting to do that to a lesser level too.
10) Texas hosts a scrappy, solid TCU team that will give it all it can handle this upcoming Wednesday before the gauntlet of West Virginia, at Baylor, and at Kansas. If the Longhorns can’t learn how to string together two games when they don’t hurt themselves substantially, most notably with turnovers, it could be an ugly two weeks.
On the road against Iowa State (10-4, 2-1), the Longhorns (7-8, 1-2) found themselves right in the game down the stretch, but again hurt themselves too much in what was already a tough challenge. That resulted in a 79-70 Cyclones win. Here are 10 postgame thoughts:
1) Winning on the road is hard in the Big 12, especially against a solid Iowa State team that starts five seniors. What makes winning on the road more difficult against a team like that? A young team committing 19 turnovers, and a veteran team turning that into 20 points.
Although they had a few issues here-and-there, Texas’ point guard duo of Andrew Jones and Kerwin Roach, Jr. committed just six total in 66 minutes. Both guards played impressive games.
Roach scored 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting (4-of-4 from three-point range and 3-of-6 at the free throw line) with two rebounds, five assists, three turnovers, one block and one steal in 37 minutes. His freshman teammate in the backcourt, Jones, added 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting (2-of-3 from beyond the arc and 2-of-3 from the free throw line) with seven rebounds, two assists, and three turnovers in 29 minutes. They weren’t perfect on defense, but they had some solid stretches, particularly Roach.
What really hurt Texas was freshman Jarrett Allen committing seven, including six in the first half. A willing and able passer that’s been doubled-teamed almost all season, Allen was surprisingly overwhelmed by an Iowa State defense that lacked length and size when it doubled.
Of Texas’ 19 turnovers, 12 resulted in steals, which means Iowa State was often off and running against a Texas defense that couldn’t get back. At one point late in the first half, Texas had 11 turnovers and Iowa State had zero.
2) The even more frustrating part for Texas has to be what it did on offense when it didn’t turn the ball over. Against what was the No. 11 defensive efficiency team and the No. 11 effective field goal percentage defense, Texas shot 52.9 percent from the floor (including 8-of-16 from three-point range), and that number wasn’t weighted heavily by one great performance and one bad one.
Unfortunately for the Longhorns, a big problem was that Iowa State attempted 14 more field goals despite finishing with just two more offensive rebounds. And the Cyclones shot 18 more field goal attempts than Texas in the first half.
3) Somehow, the Longhorns avoided being run out of the gym despite all the turnovers. The first half was an uptempo, back-and-forth affair until the final 1:15.
Iowa State led 35-31, and after it missed a three, freshman Jacob Young, who had his first deer-in-the-headlights game on offense this season, committed a turnover. Iowa State then finished the half with a Monte Morris jumper, and then Iowa State put Shaquille Cleare in the pick-and-roll spincycle, which led to a pick-and-pop three for Deonte Burton.
At the half, what was basically a three-point lead either way – Texas actually led 17-13 midway through the first half – the previous nine minutes turned into a nine-point Iowa State lead.
4) Speaking of Cleare and the pick-and-roll, Iowa State went right at him every time he was on the floor with either Burton one-on-one, or Morris and Burton in pick-and-roll. To be fair, Burton torched nearly everyone besides a few times when Roach drew a charge and Allen slowed him down. But Cleare’s deficiencies on defense were highlighted so much by Iowa State you could see them from space.
Burton finished with 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting (3-of-4 from three-point range), five rebounds, three assists, four turnovers, two blocks, and two steals. Morris added 22 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, zero turnovers, and two steals in 38 minutes. The Iowa State duo combined for 20 of its 32 made field goals.
Cleare played 14 minutes and scored six points with seven rebounds, and was productive on offense when he was able to get touches. Freshman James Banks played an energetic eight minutes with some bright spots on defense.
5) It was this kind of night for the Longhorns: Roach made an impressive, aggressive drive to the paint, and tried to throw down a dunk. But he started his jump too far away, didn’t get enough lift, and was rejected by the rim, which was the second time in the game a Texas player had an open dunk denied by the rim.
It could have been 49-45 Iowa State with around 13 minutes left, but instead Iowa State turned that into 51-43. Then, Texas was caught with Cleare on the floor, Burton checked in, and he scored seven straight points with a three, a driving layup, and a dunk as a rolling option out of pick-and-roll.
6) Despite being down 13 at that point with 9:46 remaining, the Longhorns fought back. Over the next 3:04, Texas went on a 13-4 run to cut the Cyclones’ lead to just 62-58.
During that stretch, Roach hit two three-pointers, Jones hit a three from the corner, Allen received a good feed from Roach for a dunk, and Tevin Mack decided he was going to drive through someone for a layup. Texas kept possessions alive with offensive rebounds, assisted on makes, and didn’t turn the basketball over.
When Iowa State hit back-to-back threes to push the lead up to eight, Texas responded with another Jones corner three, and a nifty hook shot in the paint by Allen to put Texas within distance at 70-65 with 2:24 remaining.
But Texas had no answer for Burton down the stretch.
The best representation of a veteran team, with a good point guard, versus a young group trying to make it work with two talented but young combo guards came when Texas trapped Morris out of a pick-and-roll about 35 feet from the rim. But instead of panicking, the senior pulled the ball out with four seconds left on the shot clock, found a cutter near the free throw line, who made an easy pass for a layup. That layup made it 77-70 after Roach connected on a triple Texas’ previous possession.
7) Texas ran into a tough situation against Iowa State. On one hand, the Longhorns had a lot of success pushing tempo, and attacked the rim well when it wasn’t turning the ball over. On the other hand, Texas also had an advantage inside on offense when it worked the ball in there, once Allen settled down (11 points on 5-of-10 shooting with seven rebounds and three blocks) in the second half, and Burton struggled when he was forced to defend bigs in the paint.
So, Texas bounced back-and-forth between going small and going big. The problem came during stretches when Texas tried to play fast with a big lineup, which nullified its offensive strength somewhat and Iowa State’s lineup gave it issues on defense. And then also the Longhorns at times struggled for stretches with a small group that wasn’t able to get out and run enough.
Credit Iowa State for getting the game to be played at its speed a little bit more than the Longhorns during key stretches.
8) Texas received just three points from its bench. However, it was a surprising to see Eric Davis, Jr. not more involved. The sophomore, coming off his best game of the season, did play 19 minutes. But Texas could have used him some more. His energy made an impact on both ends often, and he made good decisions on offense; he looked like he was ready to score 10-plus points and spark stretches, but he never really got into the flow of the game long enough when he was on the floor.
Tevin Mack didn’t get many touches early, but once he got them he started to produce. The sophomore finished with 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting (2-of-6 from three-point range and 1-of-2 from the free throw line) with six rebounds, one assist, two turnovers and a block in 34 minutes. At times, he provided a spark on defense, including a stretch in the second half when he defended Morris. However, he also lacked defensive presence and energy for stretches too.
9) Small sample size alert, but this is worth noting:
Through three Big 12 games, Roach leads the conference in effective field goal percentage (73.8), free throw rate, and three-point percentage (5-of-7). He’s also No. 4 in true shooting percentage, No. 9 in assist rate, No. 14 in offensive rating, No. 22 in blocked shot percentage, and No. 21 in steal percentage. Plus, on offense his Big 12 shooting percentage rate is just 15.0 (20.9 percent over the entire season), so not only is he scoring efficiently, but he’s getting others involved and not forcing it.
He’s showing legitimate progress, and Jones is starting to do that to a lesser level too.
10) Texas hosts a scrappy, solid TCU team that will give it all it can handle this upcoming Wednesday before the gauntlet of West Virginia, at Baylor, and at Kansas. If the Longhorns can’t learn how to string together two games when they don’t hurt themselves substantially, most notably with turnovers, it could be an ugly two weeks.
