Texas Basketball: Horns can get back on track in Big 12/SEC Challenge

A win over the LSU Tigers on Jan. 25 would be one of the best wins of the season so far for the Texas basketball program.

For the first time since the fall, a certain Texas athletic team will be taking on one from LSU. This time around will see the men’s Texas basketball program taking on the LSU Tigers on Jan. 25 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Head coach Shaka Smart saw his team’s fortunes take a turn for the worst of late. Big 12 pay wasn’t favorable at all to Texas, especially during the last two games.

In an eventual loss at home at the Frank Erwin Center at the hands of the Kansas Jayhawks, the Texas Longhorns basketball program saw a first half lead diminish to the tune of a 66-57 final score. The Longhorns then couldn’t hang with the West Virginia Mountaineers on the road at WVU Coliseum, in what amounted to an embarrassing 38-point loss.

There are a whopping 10 games that will all be worth following to varying degrees on the same day. The Big 12 and SEC are two of the deeper college hoops conferences in the nation. Only the ACC (and maybe the Big Ten) could be considered in the same realm as the Big 12 and SEC during the 2019-20 college basketball season.

But the Longhorns taking on LSU could be one of the more intriguing given the position that each team is in. LSU holds a record of 14-4 (6-0 SEC) coming into this game, while the Longhorns come in with a record of 12-6 (2-4 Big 12). Texas is a 1.5-point underdog at home at the Erwin Center against LSU on Saturday afternoon.

Texas needs a win here to keep their hopes in tact for a berth in the NCAA Tournament. To get the win, the Longhorns will need big games from their backcourt and namely their forwards. Junior wing Jase Febres was big of late, but junior forward/center Jericho Sims had a down game against West Virginia.

The way Texas was outrebounded by West Virginia was thoroughly embarrassing. West Virginia more than doubled the number of boards that the Longhorns hauled in. Hitting the glass harder has to be a theme for Smart and the Longhorns this weekend.

On the LSU side, 6-foot-4 senior guard Skylar Mays is going to be the primary scorer to watch. Mays is averaging 16.1 points per game, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists while shooting 49.0 percent from the field and 36.6 percent from three-point land.

True freshman star 6-foot-9 forward Trendon Watford is a potential first round pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, and he’s playing better of late. Watford is averaging 12.7 points per game, 6.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 0.7 blocks, while shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 27.8 percent from beyond the arc.

The Longhorns need to beat LSU to snap a current two-game losing streak. Even an LSU loss would obviously keep them undefeated in conference play. LSU sits in a good position at the moment to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament, while the chances for Texas are slipping.