A majority of players on the Texas team may be a result of the Rick Barnes era in Austin, but they don’t have the same game mentality they did a year ago. With 6:15 to go in the game, West Virginia hits a huge 3 pointer to tie the game at 42. A Rick Barnes team very well may have folded because of poor game management by Barnes, which we saw time and time again.
Enter Shaka Smart. The Longhorns scored 5 straight points in 80 seconds to put the game away.
The greatest thing about this victory? Isaiah Taylor was a non-factor. When the best player and leading scorer on the team has his second lowest scoring total on the road against the 6th ranked team in the country and you still win? That’s the epitome of a team victory.
I don’t mean to rail on Rick Barnes, because a beleaguered former coach is always the focus of the fanbases ire when it comes to a lack of success. However, there were many times throughout Rick Barnes tenure where the Longhorns would play great for 35 minutes, falter and lose the game in the last 5 minutes. Those last 5 minutes separate great coaches from the bad and even the good ones. Is Shaka Smart a great coach? Time will tell. However, he is showing that he inspires his players. He knows how to rally his guys to win 3-straight games after suffering a devastating loss at TCU. With a victory on Saturday against Kansas, coupled with a loss by Baylor, the Longhorns could find themselves tied for 1st place in the Big 12.
Most importantly, this builds more credibility for the Longhorns program. There’s no question to Texas basketball fans that this state has produced some of the better college basketball prospects in the country. Then they watch them go to Kansas or Kentucky. Julius Randle comes to mind. Texas won’t be able to land all the top prospects due to scholarship restrictions, but the top tier ones may start to wear Burnt Orange more often. Under Shaka Smart you can be certain that Texas will at least get serious attention from the state’s top talent. Jarrett Allen may be a long-shot at this point but Victory Prep’s Jarred Vanderbilt is another top 10 player from Texas that will likely jump on board.
Saturday’s road game against the Jayhawks is another stepping stone in propelling the program to the next level. It won’t be an easy task – Kansas hasn’t lost at home in Big 12 play since February, 2013. Also, Kansas is coming off one of the worst losses in Bill Self’s tenure. Texas will have to get more out of Taylor if they want a chance to upset Kansas.
