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Texas Basketball: 5 reasons Longhorns deserve NCAA Tournament bid

By Andrew Miller

AUSTIN, TEXAS - JANUARY 19: Kerwin Roach II #12 of the Texas Basketball Longhorns reacts as his team defeats Oklahoma Sooners 75-72 at The Frank Erwin Center on January 19, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TEXAS - JANUARY 19: Kerwin Roach II #12 of the Texas Basketball Longhorns reacts as his team defeats Oklahoma Sooners 75-72 at The Frank Erwin Center on January 19, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images) /
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AMES, IA – FEBRUARY 2: Kerwin Roach II #12 of the Texas Longhorns takes a shot as Nick Weiler-Babb #1 of the Iowa State Cyclones blocks in the first half of play at Hilton Coliseum on February 2, 2019 in Ames, Iowa. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images)
AMES, IA – FEBRUARY 2: Kerwin Roach II #12 of the Texas Longhorns takes a shot as Nick Weiler-Babb #1 of the Iowa State Cyclones blocks in the first half of play at Hilton Coliseum on February 2, 2019 in Ames, Iowa. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images) /

1. Reasoning for end of season decline

There isn’t much a team like Texas could do once its Big 12 Tournament fate was sealed from the eight-point loss at the hands of the Jayhawks this past week. Texas did give Kansas all it could handle for most of that meeting that sat among a trio of very entertaining matchups between the two teams in the season series.

Moreover, Texas was one three-pointer away from taking the season series against the Jayhawks. The first of the three meetings saw the Horns fall short by a margin of two points on a missed three-pointer at the last second. Yet, this still showed how competitive this Texas team was throughout the course of Big 12 play.

Just because Texas had a late-season slip without Roach Jr. in the mix to spark the offense doesn’t mean that this team should be on the outside looking in. Texas went 1-4 without Roach Jr. in the lineup and couldn’t recover quick enough with him back in to get the upset victory over Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament.

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However, there are some clear explanations as to why the Horns slipped so much down the final stretch run of the regular season. An injury to Hayes that caused him to miss some game action along with Roach Jr.’s suspension made for enough to hold the Horns back from reaching its true potential at season’s end. Now, both should be back and ready to go for a postseason run.

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