Texas basketball staged a furious comeback in the final 10:00 of their game at Iowa State on Monday night. Although they seemingly made every shot attempted, it was too little, too late. After digging too big of a deficit in the first thirty minutes of the game, Texas eventually lost 89-86.
The loss in Ames drops the Longhorns to 3-4 in Big 12 play, and is a second consecutive loss in conference play – the second time Texas has earned such a dubious mark. Again plagued by subpar defense and a stagnant offense, Texas nearly overcame their early futility with a torrid shooting display to close the game.
It wasn’t all good. It wasn’t all bad. Since the team was in the Heartland, let’s separate the wheat from the chaff:
The Good‘”
- n”.self::process_list_items(“‘.str_replace(‘
‘, ”, ‘
[*]The Horns were 10-15 from 3 point range in the second half. The Longhorns had to do something to get back in the game and they ended up getting close.
‘).'”).”n
“””
- n”.self::process_list_items(“‘.str_replace(‘
‘, ”, ‘
[*]Javan Felix had 20 points.
‘).'”).”n
“””
- n”.self::process_list_items(“‘.str_replace(‘
‘, ”, ‘
[*]Isaiah Taylor and Jonathan Holmes scored 17 points each.
‘).'”).”n
“‘
The Bad
‘”
- n”.self::process_list_items(“‘.str_replace(‘
‘, ”, ‘
[*]The decision to play Zone, and especially a 2-3 zone. I wouldn’t mind a 3-2 zone but a 2-3 zone with a good perimeter shooting team? I don’t get it.
‘).'”).”n
“””
- n”.self::process_list_items(“‘.str_replace(‘
‘, ”, ‘
[*]Starting Demarcus Holland. I get it – he plays really good defense. By “good”, I don’t mean one of the best defenders in the nation but rather one of the above average defenders on the team. I understand there aren’t many options, including Kendal Yancy who seems to turn the ball over every other possession, and Javan Felix who will score points but his size makes it difficult to properly guard bigger Big 12 guards. However, the hole that Texas dug themselves in the first half affected them the rest of the game. Not to mention Holland’s 7 turnovers in the last 2 games. I am not saying that Felix has to play 35 minutes a game but he can certainly start the game and give the Longhorn offense a jolt. Then Holland can come off the bench and do what he does best.
‘).'”).”n
“””
- n”.self::process_list_items(“‘.str_replace(‘
‘, ”, ‘
[*]Start Myles Turner. Everyone knows you’re going to play him…so play him.
‘).'”).”n
“””
- n”.self::process_list_items(“‘.str_replace(‘
‘, ”, ‘
[*]Where were minutes for Jordan Barnett tonight? Barnett must be in Barnes’s doghouse which likely means he is struggling on defense in practice.
‘).'”).”n
“‘
The Ugly
‘”
- n”.self::process_list_items(“‘.str_replace(‘
‘, ”, ‘
[*]38 free throw attempts by the Cyclones, compared to Texas’ 12. You aren’t going to win many games with that ratio.
‘).'”).”n
“‘
Epilogue
I wouldn’t say Hilton was rocking tonight but the Cyclones were able to get the win. Iowa State is not elite but no team in the Big 12 is this year. Texas had a chance at the end but couldn’t pull it off. The next game is at Baylor – although Texas proved tonight that they do not give up easily, they are going to need all the fight they can give in Waco to get a much needed road victory.
