IT Week in Review: Texas on a tear against the spread, looking back at a trip to Allen Fieldhouse
This edition of the Inside Texas Week in Review assesses how Rodney Terry has fared against the spread in the Longhorns’ last five games, my own trip to Allen Fieldhouse ahead of Texas’ battle with Kansas, and a shoutout to the Big 12 leading Longhorn women’s basketball program.
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Texas finds success versus the number
Good teams win and great teams cover, right? Well over the course of the past few weeks and especially in the last seven days, Rodney Terry’s Texas Longhorns have been a great team.
Texas won its two games this past week in the always-tough Big 12, one a 76-71 win over Baylor at home on Monday and the other a hard-fought, come-from-behind 69-66 win over Kansas State in Manhattan, Kan. on Saturday.
In the win over the Bears, the Longhorns covered a four-point spread. Versus the Wildcats, the comeback win covered a 1.5-point spread.
Texas has been mediocre against the spread for most of the season, whether under the leadership of Terry or Chris Beard. Per OddsShark, UT is 10-13 versus the number during the 2022-23 campaign.
That turned in recent weeks, beginning with Texas’ win at West Virginia.
The Horns headed to Morgantown, W. Va. as one-point underdogs and emerged 69-61 victors. When Oklahoma State ventured into the Moody Center, the Cowboys were unable to cover an eight-point spread versus Texas in the Horns’ 89-75 win.
The only ATS loss in the last five games occurred outside of conference play when No. 2 Tennessee beat the five-point spread in an 82-71 win during the SEC-Big 12 Challenge. The Horns then responded with the two wins versus Baylor and Kansas State.
Of course, the more important statistic when it comes to Texas basketball isn’t Vegas related. It’s what the actual record is. With the win over K-State, Texas is in first-place in the Big 12 with an 8-2 record, one game clear of the second-place Iowa State Cyclones.
The next UT matchup is a Big Monday affair with the Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse. According to OddsShark, Texas heads to Lawrence as a 3.5-point underdog in a game with a 147 total.
Texas dropped their last appearance in Allen Fieldhouse in 2021 during the Jayhawks’ senior day, losing to the eventual national champion 70-63 in overtime. The Horns won by 25 in Lawrence on January 2, 2021 when the venue had a limited capacity. It was the first Texas win in Lawrence nine tries (on the same day Steve Sarkisian was hired as head football coach, too).
Winning against the spread will be important to some observers who will want Texas to continue its hot streak. Winning outright, and completing a 2-0 trip to Kansas, will be more important for Texas’ fortunes as they attempt to win the program’s first conference title since 2008 and move closer and closer to earning a No. 1 seed.
Phog Allen Memories
I didn’t get the chance to write about this in November, but I had the opportunity to “pay heed” in Lawrence during my trip to Kansas. The night before Texas ran all over the Jayhawks in a 55-14 win, interim KU head coach Norm Roberts and the defending national champions hosted Southern Utah in a non-conference affair.
It was not a banner evening for KU, as the Thunderbirds made Allen Fieldhouse an anxious place for most of the 40 minutes of game time. The Jayhawks eventually eked out a win to go undefeated during Roberts’ four-game stint at the helm.
Even with that, and the early season, no-Bill Self, Friday-night-before-a-football-game atmosphere, I was able to get a sense of why the Phog is such a lauded college basketball environment.
It is 100 percent focused on the basketball product on the court. There are no ribbon boards with additional stats, and the scoreboard hanging from the roof is as basic as a scoreboard can get. The information available to any of the 16,300 in attendance is limited to score, time remaining, team fouls, and possession. Individual stats seen are who is on the floor and individual scoring and foul totals.
Sounds from the Jayhawk men’s basketball pep band is the musical accompaniment for 95 percent of the stoppages in play, save for one to two occasions game operations decides to get the crowd going with a more modern number.
Those two points speak to the fact that people go to Kansas basketball games for Kansas basketball. They sit in uncomfortable seats in a sometimes stuffy arena to direct their focus on basketball, just like the building.
It’s a different idea than how the Moody Center has operated in year one. Of course, there are kinks to work out when opening a building, but Texas could learn a thing or two from their Big 12 brethren.
The on-court product is key, and Texas has that so far. But the entire product at the Moody Center could absorb some of the qualities of the venerable college basketball cathedral.
There’s another first-place basketball team on campus…
Speaking of Allen Fieldhouse, the Longhorn men’s basketball team isn’t the only one forging a successful path in the Big 12. Texas women’s basketball won at Kansas on Saturday in a come-from-behind effort to take home a 68-65 win and maintain its league-leading status.
Vic Schaefer’s No. 24 Longhorns are in sole possession of first place in the conference with a 9-2 Big 12 record. Texas is one game clear of second-place OU, and 1.5 games ahead of third-place Baylor.
Look for more on the Lady Longhorns in the coming days as Schaefer and company try to build off back-to-back Elite Eight appearances and win their first Big 12 regular season title since 2004.
