Baylor 76, Texas 71

Saturday afternoon in Waco, the Texas Longhorns dropped a tough one 76-71 against the #7-ranked Baylor Bears. Down by 9 at the half, the Longhorns rode the 2nd half shooting of J'Covan Brown all the way to only being behind by 3 points with the ball in hand with 19 seconds on the clock. But at the 10 second mark, Brown hoisted a potential game-tying 3-point attempt that sailed wide left of the rim, allowing Baylor to twart the rally and emerge as victors. Brown finished with 32 points, with 20 of those coming in the 2nd half, on 11-22 shooting from the field. Aside from Myck Kabongo playing a decent game, collecting 12 points and 5 assists but missing on 4 of 8 free throws, hardly a Longhorn filled in to help their team-leader Brown steal a much-needed road win. The Longhorns were outrebounded 37-24, with the Longhorns' trio of big men, Clint Chapman, Alexis Wangmene, and Jonathan Holmes, accumulating more fouls (13) than rebounds (7) between them. Meanwhile, wings Julien Lewis and Sheldon McClellan combined to shoot 0-9 from the 3-point line and 3-13 overall.

Coach Rick Barnes is unfortuntaely finding himself with very little to work with on the court, as his players take turns disappearing in clutch situations. Too much is riding on J'Covan Brown and every opponent knows it enough to throw everything they have at him when it's time for him to play team savior. Brown's last second shot in this case came off of a screen, but still managed to look awkward against an overplaying defense. I suppose it's some consolation that this time he at least got a shot off, but such is a standard that has been vastly lowered as this young Longhorn team insists on learning its lessons the hard way. Things get no easier for a now 13-8 Texas as #4-ranked Missouri visits the Erwin Center Monday evening.

Texas 62, Iowa State 55

Tuesday night at the Erwin Center, the Texas Longhorns were able to successfully avenge a January 4th loss at Iowa State by defeating the Cyclones 62-55. With J'Covan Brown continuing to struggle shooting from the floor, this time going 3-16, a full-fledged supporting cast for the Horns stepped up to ensure an ever-important conference victory. While freshmen guards Myck Kabongo and Julien Lewis finished with 13 and 12 points a piece, significant frontcourt contributions from Clint Chapman and Jaylen Bond put Texas in the driver's seat. For once, not having to overcome a double-digit deficit allowed the Longhorns to coalesce into the complete team it needs to be in order to win ball games.

Credit head coach Rick Barnes this time out for his plan to yield shots to Iowa State's Royce White in favor of having him drive the lane in order to set up open 3-point shots for his teammates. The Cyclones shot only 33.3% from the field and the Longhorns duly took advantage, proving their ability to adjust in the name of correcting former mistakes. After coming so close against Kansas and now beating a strong Iowa State squad, the Longhorns just might be salvaging what was quickly becoming a season of unfulfilled potential. As teams continue to lock down J'Covan Brown with their most tencious defender, it will be up to the lesser known Longhorns to determine whether this season will be forever cited as a transition year or yet another feather in the hat of a winning program.

   

Kansas 69, Texas 66

Saturday afternoon at the Erwin Center, the Texas Longhorns provided themselves a great chance to upset the #7-ranked Kansas Jayhawks but ultimately failed down the stretch in a 69-66 loss. Down by as many as 15 points in both halves of the game, the Longhorns stormed back late earning themselves a 4 point lead with only 3 minutes left in the contest. But while Kansas looked like a well-oiled machine to secure the win in crunchtime, Texas looked utterly disorganized as J'Covan Brown put up a series of ill-advised, forced shots that in 3 chances all eluded the bottom of the net. Brown ended the game with 24 points, but again shot poorly, this time to the tune of 7-26 from the field.

Point guard Myck Kabongo suffered his 2nd consecutive miserable game, limited to 3 points and 4 assists as he battled with foul trouble and a coach that lacks confidence in Kabongo's ability to adequately run the offense. This may come as news to some for Rick Barnes to be upset over such a thing when at the end of the game with J'Covan Brown shooting aimlessly, there didn't to be any sort of offensive scheme at work, period. This has been a recurring theme for a Rick Barnes-coached team, the complete lack of a coherent offensive flow in clutch situations, yet Barnes keeps calling Kabongo out in his post-game press conferences as if it's up to Kabongo to not only run an offense, but actually conceive of one on the fly. Barnes apparently has no problem allowing J'Covan Brown to play one-on-five against a team already double-teaming him. But if Kabongo misses one single pass to say an Alexis Wangmene who is likely going to just fumble it out of bounds anyway, it becomes time to call in the national guard.

What this team lacks is leadership. Barnes has put the whole season on J'Covan Brown's shoulders, but Brown is more of a streaky assassin than a player who can effectively run a team and get everyone involved on his own. Kabongo should not be floundering right now, and much of the blame must be put on Barnes who frankly isn't doing a very good job managing his freshman phenom. The move to accentuate Clint Chapman has been a wise one as of late, as has the shift to playing Sheldon McClellan more frequently than Julien Lewis, so Barnes is in certain areas still showing his smarts as a coach. But it's been 3 games in 2 weeks now that the Longhorns have had a great chance to win only to let them each slip away. Someone needs to step up and inject a killer instinct into this squad, and with teams game-planning against the predicatability of J'Covan Brown having to do it all himself, Barnes needs to come up with alternative ways of manufacturing wins.

The Horns are now 12-7 on the season and 2-4 in Big12 Conference play. Texas certainly gets credit for hanging in there with Kansas, but something big needs to happen for this team, and it needs to happen soon. Iowa State visits the Erwin Center Tuesday at 8 pm, so look for it as a chance for Texas to turn its season back toward the positive.

    

Kansas State 84, Texas 80

Wednesday night saw the Texas Longhorns put up a scrappy fight against the Kansas State Wildcats in Manhattan, Kansas. Unfortunately, a late Texas rally fell short on a last-second, botched hand-off between Myck Kabongo and J'Covan Brown, causing Kansas State to win the game 84-80. Down by 2 with the ball and no time-outs, with 12 enormous offensive seconds on the clock, Kabongo and Brown managed to cross themselves up right across the half court line. Resulting in a brutal turnover, leading to a Kansas State dunk on the other end of the court, the backcourt mishap negated a valiant struggle for the Longhorns to erase what was once a 15-point Wildcats' lead.

J'Covan Brown both took us out of the game, then brought us back into it with his streaky shooting. Brown's rough 8-28 shooting night singlehandedly dragged his team's overall percentage down from an impressive 61% to a losing 46%. But of course it was Brown at the end of the game hitting a pair of clutch baskets to put the Longhorns in a position to steal the road win. In this case, the highly inconsistent wing duo of Sheldon McClellan and Julien Lewis impressed by combining to shoot 9-15 from the floor. Kabongo scored 14 points on 5-8 shooting and played his heart out, but managed to tarnish his 10 skillful assists with 6 sloppy turnovers. And Texas definitely missed scoring opportunities from Jonathan Holmes who fouled out of the game in only 9 minutes of scattered play.

This, our 3rd loss out of 5 Big12 conference games so far this season, was an especially hard one to swallow. All that effort to set up the potential game-clinching, closing possession, and with ample time on the clock, the Longhorns couldn't even get a shot off. With nothing but ordinary defensive pressure applied by the Wildcats, the Horns barely even got the ball past half-court. Of course, people will just shrug their shoulders and say something about "freshmen" and I suppose that's true and this game will ultimately get chalked up as a learning experience. But right this moment, we are on the bubble when it comes to the NCAA tournament. We desperately need a quality win, as we haven't had one since Temple and really that might have been our only quality win so far this season. And it only gets more difficult beyond Manhattan. #7 Kansas is next on the schedule, then an Iowa State team that has already beaten us, then #3 Baylor, and then #5 Missouri. Yikes, but at the same time, hopefully the stage is set for not just a quality win, but a signature win.

Missouri 84, Texas 73

Saturday afternoon in Columbia, Missouri, the Texas Longhorns fell to the Missouri Tigers 84-73. Despite 34 points from J'Covan Brown, the Longhorns were unable to put together the complete team game that it would have taken to overcome the 9th ranked Tigers. While the turnover margin between teams was comparable at 13-9, Missouri managed to consistently score off of Texas turnovers as the Longhorns completely failed to capitalize on mistakes by the Tigers. And while Texas freshmen Myck Kabongo (12 points, 10 assists) and Jonathan Holmes (10 points, 7 rebounds) played admirable games, fellow freshmen Sheldon McClellan and Julien Lewis combined for yet another horrendous shooting display (3-18 from the floor). Additionally, allowing Missuori to shoot an impressive 53.7% for the game indicates a break-down on the Texas defensive end. The Longhorns, now 12-5 on the season, next play at Kansas State on Wednesday night.    

Texas 61, Texas A&M 51

Wednesday evening marked the final time the Texas A&M Aggies were scheduled to play against the Texas Longhorns in Austin as members of the Big12 Conference. Over 21,000 fans packed the Erwin Center for what was throughout the game a tightly-contested, hard-fought match-up. Longhorn freshman Julien Lewis scored 16 timely points to put Texas in the position to win 61-51, but it was J'Covan Brown who sealed the victory with 2 key assists and 10 straight free throws made within the final 4 minutes of the game. The senior tandem of Clint Chapman and Alexis Wangmene logged quality minutes, finishing with 16 points and 9 rebounds between them. And freshman Sterling Gibbs just might have made the play of the night with a steal and a lay-up to put Texas up by 6 with 10 minutes to play. Myck Kabongo for the most part suffered a miserable individual game to the point that Head Coach Rick Barnes had to bench him for long stretches. But aside from bidding farwell to the Aggies with an important home win, Wednesday's game will most be remembered for a series of colossal dunks provided by each of Wangmene, Chapman, and Sheldon McClellan. The Longhorns are now 12-4 and 2-1 in Big12 play with a tough road game to come against Missouri on Saturday.

   

Texas 58, Oklahoma State 49

The Texas Longhorns ground their way to a 58-49 victory over the Oklahoma State Cowboys Saturday evening at the Erwin Center. Despite shooting a dismal 30% from the floor, the Longhorns followed through on coach Rick Barnes' pre-game prescription of tight defense, aggressive rebounding, and ball security to close out the Cowboys. Texas point guard Myck Kabongo led all scorers with 15 points, making 8 of 11 of his wisely earned free throws. But it was a hobbled J'Covan Brown who came off of the bench 12 minutes into the 2nd half who ultimately rallied his team to victory. Brown's 3-pointer at the 8:48 mark gave Texas a lead it would not relinquish, and his driving lay-up and then assist to Kabongo with under 2 minutes left put the punctuation mark on the Longhorns' 1st Big12 Conference win of the season. While freshman Jonathan Holmes played an exceptional game, shooting 4-5 from the floor to go along with 4 offensive rebounds, fellow freshmen Julien Lewis and Sheldon McClellan continued their shooting woes, combining for 6-26 from the floor including 1-8 from the 3-point line. Texas, now 11-4 overall, face Texas A&M in Austin on Wednesday night, in what will be yet another must-win for the Longhorns.

 

Iowa State 77, Texas 71

In foreboding fashion, the young Texas Longhorns dropped their first Big12 game of the season against Iowa State in Ames Wednesday night. Considering match-ups against even tougher Big12 squads including Kansas, Baylor, and Missouri yet to come, this was a game that Texas really needed to win. Unfortunately, Iowa State came out of the gate on fire from the 3-point line, hitting 9 of 12 in the first half on the way to a 10-point halftime lead. The Longhorns made a serious run in the 2^nd half, with junior J’Covan Brown practically carrying his team on his back. But Brown rolled his ankle on a slicing drive to the basket and the wheels pretty much fell off from that point on for the Longhorns.

There was a crucial moment late, when Texas cut the Cyclones lead to 6 with about 2 minutes to play. Freshman point guard Myck Kabongo had the ball at the top of the key, wide open for a very reasonable 3-point shot attempt, and inexplicably he passed it up. It led to a sloppy Clint Chapman turnover and basically a loss for the Longhorns. Evidently, Kabongo’s once-flourishing confidence has fallen by the wayside via Coach Rick Barnes and his archaic insistence on teaching by way of negative reinforcement. With all respect due to Coach Barnes, he has in recent weeks manufactured yet another disaster in which his players get completely bogged down by his heavy-handed approach to discipline.

The way Iowa State was sagging on defense against Kabongo the entire game, it’s as if they knew beforehand that Kabongo would be playing as if handcuffed by a curmudgeon. For some odd reason, Barnes also decided that this would be the game where the entire offense would be run through Clint Chapman, who responded well with a career game of 19 points and 14 rebounds, but who also threw in his usual share of off-plays and crucial blunders. Meanwhile in his second start of the season, Jaylen Bond did absolutely nothing in 11 minutes of play, a poor performance rivaled only by the even more worthless 10 minutes of off-the-bench play from Alexis Wangmene.

Wangmene perfectly illustrates the most glaring deficiency of Barnes as a coach, in that Alexis has been with the team 4 years now and has failed to show any significant signs of improvement. Wangmene’s hands are so bad that he is a gross liability on offense and even at his strong suit as a defensive rebounder, he all too often flubs the ball right back into the hands of an opposing offensive player. And did you see Wangmene trying to guard Iowa State’s Royce White out on the perimeter? Wangmene might as well have only been waving a white napkin at White as he continually drove around Alexis at will.

Freshmen Sheldon McClellan and Julien Lewis had poor shooting nights, going a combined 4-19, and that’s just going to happen sometimes, especially on the road. But what in the world is Barnes doing with Jonathan Holmes, who at this stage of the season should be a much more prominent contributor? Yes, Holmes has a tendency to reach on defense, which leads to fouls. And no, he’s not the best rebounder on the planet. But Holmes is exactly who Barnes should be developing right now instead of thinking that Clint Chapman is going to somehow instantly transform himself from an inconsistent mop-up man to the focal point of the offense.

Obviously, I just don’t get it with Barnes. He has said in the media before that rather than being out to win championships at Texas, his job is to prepare individual Longhorns for future careers in the NBA. And that statement does indeed speak volumes to his methods. But to essentially sabotage his team’s success year in and year out over nitpicky nuances that he seems to think only overbearing, drill-sergeant tactics can cure simply frustrates me to no end. By now, it should be clear to anyone that Barnes needs to rethink his approach. And short of calling for his job, the time has come for UT Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds to really get at Barnes not just for his teams’ underperformance but for the lack of fan support that comes from so much disappointment. We can cite that this year’s Longhorns team is far too freshman-heavy to warrant top flight expectations. But is that how a freshman-laden team is evaluated at a Kentucky or a North Carolina? No, their freshmen are expected to excel, and quite often do in both consistent and spectacular fashion.

Myck Kabongo is infinitely talented. There is no reason for him to be negatively motivated into a mere shell of his full potential. Jonathan Holmes doesn’t need to be yanked out of the game every single time he makes a less than fatal error. And if Barnes ran a more structured offense, it wouldn’t be so much up to Sheldon McClellan and Julien Lewis to create shots off of whimsical tangents. These fine players that Barnes has recruited to Texas are currently regressing right before our eyes. Of course, it is ultimately up to each one of them to improve on their own accord, through hard work and the awareness to actually learn from their mistakes, but Barnes needs to be helping that process instead of hindering it.

The Longhorns are now 10-4 on the season, with tough home games against Oklahoma State and Texas A&M scheduled within the next week. All is certainly not lost for Texas, but now is the time for the Horns to get their butts in gear, or this may wind up the first NCAA Tournament appearance that has eluded Texas in quite some time.   

Texas 73, Rice 59

The Texas Longhorns pulled away late to defeat the Rice Owls 73-59 Saturday afternoon at the Erwin Center. Texas coach Rick Barnes shook up his starting line-up by choice, replacing Alexis Wangmene and Jonathan Holmes with Clint Chapman and Jaylen Bond, and by necessity as well. Earlier in the week, Julien Bond injured his hand in a car door and thus Sheldon McClellan started in his place. With all of the changes in effect, J'Covan Brown stayed the course as his team's undisputed leader by pouring in 23 points despite turning the ball over 6 times. McClellan made the most of his starting cameo by scoring 19 points, and Sterling Gibbs came off of the bench to hit 3-3 three-point shots. Myck Kabongo, following up a miserable performance at North Carolina, finished with 9 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 turnovers. Rice, who had recently won their game at Texas A&M, narrowed the Longhorns' lead to 2 with as little as 11:17 left in the 2nd half, but Texas went on to win by 14 and improve their record to 10-3 on the season.