Texas opened Big 12 play Saturday with a disappointing loss at home to an inferior Texas Tech team. In that loss the Longhorns matched their home loss total from a year ago when they were 17-1 at the Moody Center. While it was a disappointing loss, there is plenty of season left in the Big 12 and Texas cannot let the loss beat them twice.
Next up for the Longhorns is a Tuesday night battle on the road with the Cincinnati Bearcats who are coming off of an impressive win at BYU. Cincy beat BYU who was ranked 12th in the country at the time, 71-60 . The win shows that anything can happen on any given night in this conference. The Bearcats have been a very good home team in recent years and Texas will have their hands full on Tuesday night. Let us take a look at what went wrong against the Red Raiders and what needs to improve moving forward.
Max Abmas Can’t Be Third in Shot Attempts
Against Texas Tech Max Abmas had the third most shot attempts while playing the most minutes. That is something that cannot happen if Texas is going to be successful. Abmas is by far the best scorer the Longhorns have and he needs to be the go-to scorer in most games. Abmas is more efficient than most score-first guards. On Saturday, Abmas was 6/12 from the field and 4/7 from three. A few more shots from Abmas could have possibly been the difference maker.
The dynamic between Abmas and fellow guard Tyrese Hunter does not seem to be clicking much this season. It seems as if one of the two guards takes the reigns and the other one takes a back seat. That can’t be the case as Texas needs both to be engaged, creating shots for others and themselves. Hunter had 16 shots and while he made 8 of them, it would have been better had a few of those shots gone to Abmas.
Opponents FG Percentage Needs to Be Lower
Texas Tech shot just under 53 percent on Saturday while Texas shot 41% from the field. It is inexcusable at home to be shooting over 10 percent worse than the opponent. If that happens at home, games on the road likely to be worse as role players typically play better at home. This team is not the defensive team that Chris Beard’s teams were, but you still have to be competent on the defensive side.
With how the team is shooting from the field the Longhorns could really use some easy transition baskets. Those are created by turnovers and missed shots. This is a team that has a lot of speed and can get out and run. Dillon Mitchell is one of the best athletes you will see on a basketball floor and he is an easy bucket in transition.
Texas Needs More Free Throw Attempts
In the loss to Texas Tech, the Longhorns went just 9/14 at the free throw line. That is simply not good enough and it shows the Longhorns aren’t getting to the line enough. Texas is guard-heavy and therefore has plenty of good free throw shooters on the team. It also shows they are settling for too many jump shots.
Texas is supposed to have their best shooting team since 2008 led by AJ Abrams and DJ Augustine. That hasn’t been the case thus far but the talent is still there. If Abmas and Hunter can get to the line more often it can help scorers get in rhythm. Moving forward Abmas and Hunter need to get to the rim more rather than settling for jump shots. Doing that will create higher percentage shots and free throws where both excel from the line.
