Game Preview: Texas Basketball @ No. 23 Ole Miss

The Texas Longhorns head east this week to take on the No. 23 Ole Miss Rebels and former head coach Chris Beard. Chris Beard and the Texas program ended their relationship in January of 2023. Rodney Terry, an assistant under Beard, assumed the role of interim head coach when Beard left. While the Longhorns reached the Elite Eight that season under Terry’s leadership, there remains a feeling amongst the Texas fan base that the program has not fully recovered from the Chris Beard era in Austin. Beard surely looked to have the Texas Basketball program trending toward elite status.

This season, the Longhorns and Rebels seem to be heading in different directions. Ole Miss started SEC play with four straight wins but is now coming off three straight losses. Those three losses have been to ranked conference opponents, but if the Rebels do not get back on the winning side of things, their season can get away from them quickly.

The Longhorns, on the other hand, have pulled their season out of the ground after a 1-4 start in conference play. Texas is coming off of two straight wins against ranked Missouri and Texas A&M teams. Against the Aggies, the Horns overcame a whopping 22-point deficit in the second half. Beating a good team on the road is much different than beating them on your home court. Texas is 1-2 on the road in conference play, but the losses have not been close. Including the win in Norman against the Sooners, Texas has been outscored by 40 points on the road in the SEC. This game will be a great test to find out who Texas and Ole Miss are.

Arthur Kaluma’s Availability is in Question

Texas forward Arthur Kaluma injured his left knee against Florida but played against Missouri. Kaluma did miss the game against Texas A&M and his absence was obvious. The Longhorns struggle to rebound as it is, but Kaluma is the leading rebounder for Texas averaging 8.2 rebounds a game. Without him versus Texas A&M, Texas was outrebounded 43-27. The result was that Texas A&M had 20 second chance points, while Texas had just 6 second chance points. Texas must clean up their rebounding issue moving forward and Kaluma’s presence would greatly help.

Kaluma doesn’t just help in the rebounding department. He is the second-leading scorer for the Longhorns as well. Kaluma averages nearly 14 points per game and leads the team in three-point percentage. He is averaging over 45% from three, which includes a performance against Auburn in which he scored 34 points and went 5-6 from three. The threat of Arthur Kaluma being on the court helps Tre Johnson and everyone else on the Texas offense. When he is off the floor, Texas does not have another big that is a scoring threat.

Texas Improved Ball Movement

Against Texas A&M, the Longhorns finally had good ball movement on offense. The 16 assists to 8 turnovers is the best Texas has had in conference play. It is no coincidence that the Longhorns also had their best shooting performance from three against the Aggies. More ball movement equals better shots. Texas shot 40% from three against Texas A&M, which won’t happen every game, but the more the ball moves the better they will be on offense.

Texas has played far too much ISO basketball this year, making it impossible to establish a rhythm as an offense. The Longhorns have a multitude of prolific scorers on this team, as we saw when Tre Johnson scored 30 against A&M. Kaluma, Johnson, Pope, and Tramon Mark simply need to learn to play as a collective unit, which is Rodney Terry’s job to help figure out.