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.
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