Shorthanded Texas falls to Oklahoma, 80-79

Following an extended layoff due to several games being postponed, Texas returned to action Tuesday night at the Erwin Center against Oklahoma. While it was reported the postponements of their previous two games were due to Covid-19 issues for their opponents, it was revealed Monday that the Longhorns were dealing with Covid-19 issues of their own.  Head Coach Shaka Smart, Courtney Ramey, Jericho Sims and Brock Cunningham all missed the matchup against the Sooners, and their absence left a huge hole as the Longhorns fell to their rival, 80-79.

While missing Shaka Smart certainly hurt Texas, missing a trio of players proved to hurt more as the game played out. The Longhorns battled foul trouble for the entire evening and were forced to play without Matt Coleman, who ended up only playing 23 minutes, for a good chunk of the second half before he fouled out with under 30 seconds left. Greg Brown and Royce Hamm also battled foul trouble and eventually fouled out, leaving a big void for the Longhorns in the paint. Kai Jones stepped up and put together a good performance, scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, but the Longhorns really missed Sims defensively.

Oklahoma controlled the game for most of the evening behind a strong night from Austin Reaves, who scored 23 points. The Sooners appeared poised to run away with things once Coleman headed to the bench early in the second half with his 4th foul, but Texas hung around and went on a run late in the game despite trailing by 12 at one point. A Matt Coleman layup with 40 seconds left got the Longhorns within 1 point at 78-77. After a pair of Reaves free throws to extend the lead back to 3, Andrew Jones connected on two free throws of his own to set up a wild finish. On the ensuing inbounds pass with 5 seconds remaining, Donovan Williams nearly forced a steal before the Longhorns scrambled to foul Jalen Hill with 2.3 seconds. Hill missed his first free throw and then intentionally tried to miss his second free throw, but his miss did not hit the rim, resulting in a violation. Texas had a chance to run a full court inbounds play for the win, but a long pass down the court was stolen and gave Oklahoma the victory.

Biggest Takeaway

At full strength, Texas likely wins this game fairly comfortably, but the lack of depth absolutely killed the Longhorns down the stretch and limited what interim head coach KT Turner could do with his substitutions. When it comes to the game itself, the biggest takeaway has to be Texas continues to get into way too much foul trouble. Fouls have been an issue for Texas going back to the beginning of the season and caught up to them tonight when they didn’t have the depth available to pull out a victory.

Big picture wise, this loss likely helped Oklahoma more than it hurt Texas. The Longhorns have a big game a week from tonight when host 2nd ranked Baylor and give themselves a chance to add to an already strong resume. As it stands today, Texas is still a team on track for a 2 or 3 seed in the NCAA tournament.

What’s Next?

Texas will travel to Kentucky on Saturday to take on the Wildcats in the SEC/Big 12 challenge. It is unknown if Shaka Smart or any of the players who missed tonight’s game will be back. Tip off is set for 7 PM.