Ouch!
In his first rematch with his old school, Shaka Smart emerged victorious on Wednesday night.
The Marquette Golden Eagles defended home court by beating the Longhorns, 86-65, in a game that wasn't even that close.
One very firm takeaway from this game: Marquette, right now, is a much better team than Texas is. Their offense is more layered and complex, they have more defined roles on either end, and also, PG Tyler Kolek is All-American good.
While Max Abmas held up his end of the deal with 25 points, he was the only Longhorn to do so, as just a single other Texas player had double-digit points in the game (Chendall Weaver). Guys like IT Horton went 1/7 with two points, Tyrese Hunter was a really atypical 0-6 from the field for three points on FTs.
Dillon Mitchell was seemingly the only other one that played well, finishing with nine points, 10 boards, and three blocks. But outside of Abmas and Mitchell, the Longhorns offense really struggled tonight,.
They were outshot, out-schemed, out hustled, out rebounded, and out everything'd to their former head coach's new team.
It had to feel good for Shaka Smart, who unceremoniously left the Longhorns program upon the heels of a shocking upset loss to 14-seeded Abilene Christian. He had a Marquette unit that was ready to go out and dominate, and dominate they did.
The lopsided final score doesn't even really accurately display how lopsided the game was; the Longhorns were down 32 points at one point in the game. There was just seemingly no hope, no energy, no fight from this Texas team tonight.
Starring in the massacre was Marquette PG Tyler Kolek, an upperclassmen guard (like Abmas) who went for 28 points, six assists, eight rebounds, and three steals on 11-16 and 4-9 from deep. He was unconscious, unable to miss the entirety of the game it felt like on the Texas side.
The Texas offense had no rhythm at any point, never really showing its full potential as the Golden Eagles defense swarmed Texas' ballhandlers. The game didn't even feel particularly close at any point in the second half; it was a foregone conclusion that they were going to take the game home for Shaka.
The loss shakes the foundation a bit for what I thought this team might be capable of. That's not a knock on the team, players, coaches, etc. But I think it's fair to consider whether this team's projections to be as good as last year are premature, or even realistic at all.
What should we expect long term? Time will tell. But if games like tonight don't spark improvement overall, this team could – could – be in trouble.
@keenanwomack on twitter.
In his first rematch with his old school, Shaka Smart emerged victorious on Wednesday night.
The Marquette Golden Eagles defended home court by beating the Longhorns, 86-65, in a game that wasn't even that close.
One very firm takeaway from this game: Marquette, right now, is a much better team than Texas is. Their offense is more layered and complex, they have more defined roles on either end, and also, PG Tyler Kolek is All-American good.
While Max Abmas held up his end of the deal with 25 points, he was the only Longhorn to do so, as just a single other Texas player had double-digit points in the game (Chendall Weaver). Guys like IT Horton went 1/7 with two points, Tyrese Hunter was a really atypical 0-6 from the field for three points on FTs.
Dillon Mitchell was seemingly the only other one that played well, finishing with nine points, 10 boards, and three blocks. But outside of Abmas and Mitchell, the Longhorns offense really struggled tonight,.
They were outshot, out-schemed, out hustled, out rebounded, and out everything'd to their former head coach's new team.
It had to feel good for Shaka Smart, who unceremoniously left the Longhorns program upon the heels of a shocking upset loss to 14-seeded Abilene Christian. He had a Marquette unit that was ready to go out and dominate, and dominate they did.
The lopsided final score doesn't even really accurately display how lopsided the game was; the Longhorns were down 32 points at one point in the game. There was just seemingly no hope, no energy, no fight from this Texas team tonight.
Starring in the massacre was Marquette PG Tyler Kolek, an upperclassmen guard (like Abmas) who went for 28 points, six assists, eight rebounds, and three steals on 11-16 and 4-9 from deep. He was unconscious, unable to miss the entirety of the game it felt like on the Texas side.
The Texas offense had no rhythm at any point, never really showing its full potential as the Golden Eagles defense swarmed Texas' ballhandlers. The game didn't even feel particularly close at any point in the second half; it was a foregone conclusion that they were going to take the game home for Shaka.
The loss shakes the foundation a bit for what I thought this team might be capable of. That's not a knock on the team, players, coaches, etc. But I think it's fair to consider whether this team's projections to be as good as last year are premature, or even realistic at all.
What should we expect long term? Time will tell. But if games like tonight don't spark improvement overall, this team could – could – be in trouble.
@keenanwomack on twitter.
