Texas vs. Kansas: Three things to watch
March is finally here. The Madness hasn’t arrived quite yet, but the calendar has turned to the best month for college basketball and only one regular season game remains for the No. 21 Texas Longhorns.
[Subscribe to Inside Texas today and get a FREE 7-day Plus trial!]
Texas head coach Chris Beard called Saturday’s matchup with the No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks an “opportunity game.”
An opportunity to improve Texas’ seed in the Big 12 Tournament? No.
An opportunity to move off the bubble? Not that either.
Texas is in the field of 68 and locked into its seed in the Big 12 Tournament. So what’s the opportunity?
It’s an opportunity to know what type of effort it takes to succeed in March.
“We’ve talked about March from the time we stepped foot on campus,” Texas guard Marcus Carr said Thursday. “Now it’s here, so it’s time for us to take advantage of it. We all definitely want to leave our mark, leave our imprint. Whether it’s guys who’ve been or haven’t been before, it’s something that we want to last forever.”
Beard places a massive emphasis on owning the possession-by-possession battle that is college basketball in March. He has his team playing pretty good ball, but he also knows there’s another level to reach to have the type of success in the postseason he came to Austin for.
When (or if) Texas reaches that level, Beard believes it’ll take something special to knock off the Longhorns.
“There are some teams around the country that will beat themselves,” Beard said. “We will not be one of those teams. If you’re going to beat Texas in March, you’re going to have to beat us. We’re not going to beat ourselves.”
Texas has its first chance to prove Beard’s theory on Saturday versus Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse. Here are three things to watch.
Can Texas put the ball through the hoop from distance?
On Thursday, Beard said he has good shooters on his team. While that’s been true in some instances, against the class of the league this season (Baylor, Texas Tech, Kansas), the Longhorns are shooting 25 percent from behind the arc.
That’s a mark well behind their 32 percent average across the entire 2021-22 season, and 30 percent posting in Big 12 play.
Texas was 4-for-23 from distance on Monday against Baylor, which is still better than their showing in the Longhorns’ home win against Kansas in February. Texas was 3-for-20 from three in the home win versus the Jayhawks.
“Baylor guarded us in a certain way where we needed to hit some three-point shots to win that game,” Beard said Thursday. “We got the looks, we didn’t make shots.”
Considering how slow the Longhorns play, making the most of limited perimeter opportunities is essential for success in March and against Kansas on Saturday.
Texas ranks No. 340 out of 358 in KenPom‘s adjusted tempo. Only five power conference teams are slower: No. 341 Butler (13-17), No. 344 Virginia Tech (19-11), No. 345 Villanova (22-7), No. 353 Penn State (12-14), and No. 357 Virginia (17-12).
The best three-point shooting team of that bunch is Virginia Tech, who is shooting 39 percent from beyond the arc this season. Texas’ below average 32 percent number is buoyed by their top 20 ranking in defensive efficiency and top 30 spot in offensive efficiency. But as the overall records of those teams show, the margin for error when playing slow is much smaller.
Case in point, the slowest team in the country per KenPom, North Texas, is shooting 37 percent from three this season (No. 40 in the country), boasts a 22-4 record, and is the favorite to win Conference USA.
How can Texas improve on its shooting this late in the year? Beard said they need to “stay the course.” He mentioned how several players take and make hundreds of shots per day. But what does staying the course really mean?
“Stay committed to the fundamentals, the footwork, the balance, the eyes, the follow through,” Beard said. “There’s a way to shoot a basketball. You’ve got to be disciplined enough to do it every single time.”
A veteran team heads to Allen Fieldhouse
Beard mentioned how Saturday’s game in Lawrence, Kan. is an “opportunity game.” The Longhorns are sure-fire picks to make the field of 68, and know they will be the No. 4 seed in Kansas City for the Big 12 Tournament next week.
They also know their opponent will be the TCU Horned Frogs, who topped Kansas on Tuesday. Those two teams will play again on Thursday night in a makeup game.
Though Kansas will be physically tested with the senior day matchup on Saturday being their fourth game in eight days, Texas is aware the of the challenge not just of the location, but of the team that awaits them there.
“Couldn’t ask for a better last game,” Beard said. “A tough environment, they’ll be playing for the Big 12 regular season title. We’ll have to play our best game of the season, but that’s no different than what’s coming up in March.”
This season’s team is chock-full of experience. The regular starting five of Marcus Carr, Courtney Ramey, Andrew Jones, Timmy Allen, and Christian Bishop are all seniors.
Carr, who had previous stops at Pitt and Minnesota, will add another historic arena to his list of travels from his lengthy career with the trip to KU.
“I guess I’m a bit well-traveled in the college basketball arena area,” Carr said.
As someone who has seen a lot in college basketball, and as someone who topped the Jayhawks this year, Carr knows it’ll take a total effort to get the program’s second consecutive win in the historic basketball venue.
“It’s an opportunity in front of us,” Carr said. “Kansas on their home floor is a difficult team to beat. You have to go in there and definitely beat them, play really well. It’s a challenge we’re looking to take on. They’re obviously a great team.
“We have to look at the things that we did well in the first game and the things that we didn’t do so well, and try and clean those up. Just try to go in there, have a strong performance, and come out with the win.”
Will Courtney Ramey again draw the tough defensive assignment?
Courtney Ramey held Kansas guard Ochai Agbaji to 11 points in their matchup in February, with Agbaji factoring little into the final result. That was when the Jayhawks were without Remy Martin, who is starting to build up his minutes in the season’s final stretch.
Other Jayhawks had big games. Jalen Wilson, David McCormick, and Christian Braun all reached double-figures, but keeping Agbaji quiet was a significant factor behind the Longhorn victory.
“He’s a super competitive guy,” Carr said of Ramey. “He doesn’t back down from anything. He’s fearless. I know he’s looking forward to that matchup again and looking forward to trying to repeat that performance.”
If Beard deploys a plan similar to the one from February, Ramey will have to be on his game. But as Beard also mentioned Thursday, he has to play both ends of the floor. They need offensive contributions as well as defensive contributions from No. 3.
After all, this is the No. 6 team in the country they are playing.
Tip is set for 3 p.m. on Saturday on ESPN.
