Texas Basketball: 5 nailbiting Kansas defeat takeaways

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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 22: Sterling Manley #21 of the North Carolina Tar Heels shoots against Jaxson Hayes during the 2018 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on November 22, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images) /

4. Jaxson Hayes foul trouble is a regular issue

If only Texas basketball could get the consistent presence from a projected 2019 NBA Draft lottery selection game in and game out. Instead freshman forward Jaxson Hayes gets hit with foul trouble in nearly every single one of his outings. That plagued him, and the entire Texas basketball team, on the road against Kansas.

As we’ve seen on numerous occasions this season, Hayes had to hit the bench for 10-15 minutes more than Smart would like to have. Early foul trouble cost Hayes the opportunity to make a major impact on this game. A few of the fouls that came his way were just wrong place wrong time situations, but some were easily preventable.

So far this season, Hayes is posting a whopping 6.1 fouls per 40 minutes and nine fouls per 100 possessions. There very few bigs in the nation that can even come close to matching those numbers from Hayes. That’s an issue for one of the most promising talents that the Horns have in the mix.

Considering the Horns do need some help in the front court this season, the team can ill-afford to have Hayes on the bench with foul trouble as often as it happened already. Hayes is a very valuable player to the Horns and the best rim protector and inside scorer on the roster. His length and athleticism also allows him to pull in some key rebounds. Hopefully he can take care of the foul trouble moving forward.

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