Longhorns hope to regain spot in Top 25 in key road trip to BYU
What a difference 11 days make.
On Jan. 17, the Texas men’s basketball team lost to UCF at home, dropping its third game in four Big 12 Conference outings and critics of coach Rodney Terry and the Longhorns were in full throat as the team dropped out of the Top 25.
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Terry said it was too early to push the panic button – and he was right.
In the week and a half since, Texas (14-5, 3-3 Big 12) has knocked off then-No. 9 Baylor at home and No. 11 Oklahoma on the road, the latter in decisive fashion. Now the Longhorns are head to Provo, Utah for their first-ever conference matchup with No. 21 BYU in search of their third straight win over a Top 25 foe, a boost up the topsy-turvy Big 12 standings and a likely jump back into the ranks of the ranked.
“We played like a high-level team the last two games ourselves,” said Terry.
The Longhorns scored 75 points and shot at least 50 percent from the floor in each of its two wins this week. Texas looked especially impressive in dismantling the Sooners 75-60 on the road on Tuesday for its sixth straight victory over Oklahoma. The Longhorns outrebounded the Sooners 40-24 and held them to eight points over the game’s final 12 minutes.
Max Abmas and Dylan Disu turned in dominant performances for the Longhorns. Abmas scored 22 points — his sixth game of scoring at least 20 points this season, Abmas accounted for four of Texas’ eight 3-pointers against Oklahoma.
Disu chipped in 19 points and a season-high 10 rebound to record his first double double of the season.
“So it’s about going out there and playing hard,” Texas forward Dillon Mitchell said. “The team who wants it more, the team who goes out there and makes those winning plays, diving on the floor, getting 50-50 balls, now that’s what it comes down to — having that want to, playing with a lot of effort and physicality.”
BYU (14-5, 2-4) is looking to get back on track after back-to-back close losses to Texas Tech and Houston. Both games represented missed opportunities for a statement victory.
Houston escaped with a 75-68 victory in Provo on Tuesday night after holding BYU scoreless over the final two minutes. BYU tied it at 68 on a 3-pointer from Noah Waterman with 2:15 left. Despite holding Houston without a field goal over the final 4 1/2 minutes, BYU could not get a potential go-ahead basket to drop in the final minute.
“We put ourselves in a position where we had a chance and we just couldn’t get over the top of it,” BYU coach Mark Pope said. “We’ll keep battling. We have a really good team and a good group in this locker room.”
Turnovers and offensive rebounds kept BYU from springing an upset against Houston. Over 40 minutes, Houston scored 17 points off 13 BYU turnovers and tallied 15 second-chance points.
BYU also didn’t help itself with struggles from the perimeter. The Cougars shot just 29 percent from beyond the arc as a lack of consistency from 3-point range has been a persistent problem for BYU against Big 12 opponents.
Still, close losses against Top 25 opponents have the Cougars believing they are on the cusp of breaking through with some big wins to build their NCAA Tournament resume. “It shows what we’re capable of doing,” BYU point guard Dallin Hall said. “It also shows us that we have even more room to grow, which is exciting.”
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BYU leads Texas 4-2 in the series between the two schools. The Cougars edged the Longhorns 86-82 in 2013 in the most recent meeting.
