What you missed: Texas dominates second half after sluggish start in the first half beating the Northwestern State Demons 77-53
The participants: Northwestern State (5-7) and Texas Longhorns (11-2)
Hardwood MVP: He’s back, y’all! Tre Johnson made sure the rust allegations were shut down as soon as possible after missing the past two games with a right hip injury,.Johnson made sure to remind the 40 Acres that he’s worth the price of admission, pouring in 18 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, while shooting 4/7 from deep. Once again when the offense looked stagnant, Johnson answered the call showing why he’s one of, if not, the best shot creator in the SEC let alone the nation. It’ll be interesting to see just how the talented Freshman performs in Texas’ SEC debut with Texas A&M on the horizon on January 4th.
They’re finally cooking: Johnson and Jordan Pope had a combined 29 points, 11/22 FG, and 7/15 from beyond the arc. While to the common eye this might just be an average duo performance (and maybe it was), but it caught my eye just how aggressive Pope was with Johnson coming back from injury, showing much more decisiveness in his shot selection and when and where to attack a defense. Last week, I mentioned how teams that make a deep run have the formula of, a phenom, great guard play, an experienced team, and size, Texas has all of those now it’ll be one to see just how Rodney Terry and his staff crafts this talent against arguably the toughest conference in the nation. While the starters stepped up in the second half, Jayson Kent shook off some rust after having a first half to forget, reaching the 1,000 points club and having all 9 of his points come in the second half.
Leave it in 2024: In the first half of this matchup Texas was struggling in multiple aspects on offense, while the score won’t entirely tell the whole story, Texas looked flustered when NWST threw a wrinkle in their planned and ran a lot more half court zone forcing the Longhorns to emphasize ball movement rather than one on one play. Heading into the contest Texas was ranked first in the country in protecting the ball (8.9 Turnovers per game) in the first half alone the Longhorns had 6. This has been a point of emphasis dating back to the season opener against the Buckeyes and though we understand this is a new squad the struggles against both NWST’s 1-3-1 & 2-3 zone was glaring to me.
Let’s keep it a buck: If we’re going to keep it a buck, we know what’s ahead and while I do believe in the phrase, “good teams win, great teams cover.” I can’t help but pick out certain issues that a superior team allows against an inferior team. Texas took this game by the neck in the second half and made sure to not look back, but with SEC play beginning for the Longhorns in College Station on January 4th, they better come to play. With all that being said, I have my concerns about Texas’ ball movement, specifically against zone defenses. More importantly, with matchups like Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, A&M, and Oklahoma looming, the its interior defense will be tested in a big way in the coming weeks. Well, we’ll find that out quickly and overall, I believe that is what’s my biggest concern heading into SEC play that I believe has not been tested as much and while I do think Texas is a team that can bust a ton of brackets come March, this will be an issue all fans should look into moving forward.
Next on the calendar: As Texas finishes out of conference play 11-2 with losses to both Ohio state and UCONN, they will begin a tough stretch of SEC play with non other than the Texas A&M Aggies on January 4th in College Station we’ll be seeing if the Horns can squeak out an upset against what I’m sure will be a very “welcoming,” environment.
Texas’ next five opponents:
@ #13 Texas A&M (7:00PM CT, Jan. 4th)
VS #2 Auburn (8:00PM CT, Jan. 7th)
VS #1 Tennessee (5:00PM CT, Jan 11th)
@ #12 Oklahoma (9:00PM CT, Jan. 15th)
@ #6 Florida (TBD, Jan. 18th)
The most appropriate way to describe this stretch is simple:
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