Their coach who had built what looked like a title contender was likely finished.īut the players themselves had done nothing wrong. When the Horns needed overtime to win, it was kind of easy to write them off. It was one of the defining days of this season for the Longhorns when they woke up to images of Beard’s mugshot on their televisions and then had to play Rice that night. Texas, too, was without an important piece this week - Allen sat out with a leg injury - and then, of course, there’s the whole Chris Beard thing. But no one can really compete in the excuse game with Texas. Kansas, which will be one of the favorites, had the excuse of playing without wing Kevin McCullar - out with back spasms - and coach Bill Self, who was hospitalized on Wednesday. The Longhorns belong in the conversation in what appears to be a wide open NCAA Tournament. The Big 12 has produced the last two national champions and the runner-up in the previous title game. It was the kind of performance that allows a program to dream. Then on Saturday, Texas spanked Big 12 superpower Kansas for the second time in eight days, 76-56, to win the Big 12 tournament. On Friday, TCU had one of its worst offensive games all year in a 66-60 win for the Longhorns. Grateful to play for The University of Texas! Grateful to be a part of this team and to be surrounded by amazing individuals! Grateful to win another championship!🫶🏼🧡 #HookEm /CnpJhtdbJnįirst, another ugly win over Oklahoma State, which had its lowest efficiency output in three seasons in that early-January game and surpassed it on Thursday. Texas has had the fifth-best defense in college basketball since that KSU loss, according to, and its dominance reached another level this week in Kansas City. “Ever since we wrote those things down, we’ve stuck to them.”Īnd four days after the embarrassing defensive performance against the Wildcats, Texas traveled to Oklahoma State and won 56-46. “Everybody couldn’t just point fingers at one person we all gave up points,” sophomore guard Tyrese Hunter said. The players made a pact that went on the whiteboard: they were going to play defense and lock down their assignments. It was back to basics, reemphasizing what mattered on the defensive end. No one’s gonna outscore anyone in this league and win a championship.”įor two days, the Longhorns basically practiced without basketballs. “You’re gonna have to able to put your will on someone in terms of being able to sit down and get stops. “In this league, you can’t get into a pickup game,” Terry said. It worked on one of the most emotional days of their season in an overtime win against Rice, but … Terry wanted his players to “get lost in doing the uncomfortable things.” They had adopted a mindset that they could simply flip the switch and outscore whoever they wanted when that approach basically felt foolproof.

“That practice was a big turning point in our year,” senior forward Timmy Allen said. “It kind of galvanized them, because they looked around like, he’s not playing,” Donewald said. If I can dive on a loose ball and dive on the floor, it can be your friend. Again, Terry was at the front of the line. He stepped in and took it and looked at the guys like, ‘No, this is what we’re doing.’” “I’ve seen coaches do the little gimmicky sh- before, and everyone kind of laughs,” assistant coach Bob Donewald Jr. “I wanted to see if he was actually about it, and he actually is.”

“He’s always talking about we need to be more physical,” Rice said. “Jabari got me pretty good,” Terry admitted. “It wasn’t no fluff charge either,” assistant coach Chris Ogden said. Terry jumped back to his feet and then told Rice to knock him over again and then one more time to hammer home the point.

If I can take a charge, he told the players, you can take a charge.

Big 12 basketball champs