Texas Basketball: How good defense isn’t translating to Longhorn wins
What this means moving forward
Solid defense from the Texas basketball program over the course of the 2019-20 regular season didn’t have as strong of a correlation to wins as good offense did. Any team that plays lockdown defense is going to get on the right side of the win column in those games more often than not. But efficient offense and fast pace and space ball movement is the way the game of basketball is trending, and Smart isn’t paying attention.
A good example of the strong correlation between wins and efficient offense is the Longhorns’ record with offensive rating above 92. Texas is 14-2 on the season with an offensive rating above 92. They are an abysmal 0-8 when they post an offensive rating of 91.9 or below. There’s multiple solid defensive ratings below 98 scattered in those eight losses too.
The proof is in the pudding when it comes to efficient offense.
This isn’t the only season where Texas won a much higher percentage of games when they play more efficient offense too. Texas was a stout 15-2 when they posted an offensive rating better than 109 last season. Within those 17 games were wins over Kansas, Baylor, and the North Carolina Tar Heels. The only two losses came against Baylor and Kansas by a combined margin of three points.
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Offensive rating isn’t the only number that was important to the Longhorns success over the course of the last two years. Effective field goal percentage was key to the Longhorns success last season too. When Texas registered an effective field goal percentage of 49.3 percent or better last season, they went 15-3. The only outlier of a bad loss in those 18 games was a 98-88 scoring explosion last year in the Big 12/SEC Challenge against the Georgia Bulldogs.
Interesting trendline for the effective field goal % allowed by the Longhorns this year. Barttorvik showing that Texas really locks down on even the best of offenses. pic.twitter.com/P2dajqZDMb
— Hook'em Headlines (@HookemHeadlines) February 11, 2020
Effective field goal percentage also didn’t play as big of a role in the Longhorns getting on the right side of the win column this season either. Check out this chart to see how the Longhorns played consistent defense this season in terms of effective field goal percentage allowed, and the wins just haven’t come in as anticipated.
The overarching point here is that the Texas men’s basketball program needs to get with the times and start focusing their scheming on the proper end of the floor. Efficient offense is more important at this point than defense, but Smart didn’t get that yet.