Texas Basketball: Why K-State is biggest game of the season
By Shane Black
Texas basketball has stumbled out of the gate to open Big 12 play, rendering Saturday’s matchup against Kansas State a must-win.
We are in year five of the Shaka Smart tenure which could ultimately prove to be a make-or-break season for the Texas basketball head coach.
The hypothetical lukewarm “seat” has turned very hot as Texas dropped a home game to Oklahoma this Wednesday, a contest where they held a nine point lead at the seven-minute mark of the first half which turned into a 72-62 loss at the Frank Erwin Center.
Smart’s fifth season started off promising as the Longhorns traveled to the notorious Mackey Arena for their second game of the season and knocked off a then 23rd ranked Purdue Boilermaker team. Mind you, that very strong quadrant one road win has lost some of its luster as Purdue currently sits at a measly 9-7.
Nonetheless, a quarter one win is a quarter one win, something the Texas Longhorns basketball program desperately needed in a non-conference schedule that provided more chances for pitfalls than pick-me-ups.
With that being said, that is the only quadrant one win the Longhorns have all season. In fact, it is the only quad one OR quad two win they have racked up. Texas is currently 1-4 in Q1 and Q2 games with losses on a neutral court to Georgetown, at Baylor and Providence, and their most recent home loss to the Sooners.
The Longhorns are 3-0 against quad three opponents and 6-0 against Q4.
Texas is coming into Saturday’s matchup with a 1-3 record over their last four with that sole win coming against High Point. The Horns spent their two months of non-conference play beating up on the smaller dogs. If they want the committee to respect their resume they are going to have to string some wins together, and it starts this Saturday at home against Kansas State.
Kansas State sits at 7-7 (0-2) and is currently 100th in the NET. That means a win here for Shaka and the Horns would fall into quadrant three. So, why is this matchup so important then?
Confidence and momentum.
The Wildcats are regarded by many as the worse team in the Big 12 Conference this season. Coach Bruce Weber lost his top-three scorers and top-three assist men from his 2018/19 squad. This Wildcat team brought back just three players that averaged more than 3.6 PPG lasts season, and just four guys that averaged more than eight minutes per game.
This is a must-win game for Smart and the Longhorns. A loss at home to the worst team in your conference is going to stick out like a sore thumb come March. Not only that, but an 0-3 start to conference play will be a tough hole to climb out of given the current state of this team.
With the Longhorns subpar non-conference schedule they are going to need to win at least nine Big 12 games to have a realistic shot at making the 2020 NCAA Tournament. Every loss to a bottom-feeder such as Kansas State makes it that much harder to achieve that nine or ten win mark.
Following two sloppy performances to open Big 12 play, Texas needs to string together a complete 40-minute performance.
Should they handle business against K-State, this team should gain much needed confidence and momentum ahead of a January 15th matchup in Stillwater against another team looking to salvage their season.