Texas Basketball: Shaka Smart undergoes unacceptable loss to Iowa St

This loss to the Iowa State Cyclones was a really rough one for head coach Shaka Smart and the Texas basketball program, by a 29-point margin.

Things definitely just went from bad to worse for the Texas basketball program in what was a vital matchup against the Iowa State Cyclones on Feb. 15. With Texas slipping back in the Big 12 standings of late, head coach Shaka Smart really needed a win to right the ship and keep them on pace to make the NCAA Tournament this year.

It’s hard to imagine the Texas Longhorns basketball program keeping Smart around beyond this year if he doesn’t make it to the “Big Dance” this season. The Longhorns can easily see the patience of their men’s basketball fan base dissipate as these types of embarrassing losses continue to mount in Big 12 play with Smart at the helm.

Texas has now lost four games in a row after winning two games back at the end of the month of January. Smart is seeing a lot discussion heat up around his job security as social media fired off at him again with this latest loss to Iowa State.

Even the more patient of media outlets and blogs for the Longhorns and college basketball in general sounded off on the job status of Smart after losing by a final score of 81-52 to the Clones on Saturday afternoon. Burnt Orange Nation and College BB News gave reasonable takes to the Smart situation on the Forty Acres at the moment.

A nice afternoon from sophomore guard Courtney Ramey was sent right down the drain by the Longhorns as they could never keep pace in this game. Texas was beat in the first half by a score of 37-26. And it got worse in the second half as Iowa State won the final 20 minutes by a decisive score of 44-26.

Once again Texas could never find its offensive rhythm. They shot a horrendous 29.3 percent from the field on 58 tries, and 25 percent from beyond the arc on 20 attempts. The bench play also wasn’t good for Texas, as the leading scorer had just six points. Those six points off the bench came from freshman wing Donovan Williams.

A poor showing from the Longhorns, especially deeper down the bench, and a rough afternoon for Smart was highlighted by the 1-of-8 shooting performance from talented but struggling freshman forward Will Baker. In 25 minutes on the floor, Baker raked in just two points and four personal fouls.

Junior floor general Matt Coleman and junior shooting guard Andrew Jones both went cold from the field. Coleman and Jones combined to shoot 5-of-18 from the field and managed four assists and two turnovers between them.

There was also an extraordinary lack of ball movement in this game. Texas had just eight assists compared with 12 turnovers. That number of turnovers isn’t all that bad, but when you can’t move the ball around at any point on offense then you’re not going to win games.

Even without talented point guard Tyrese Haliburton in the lineup on this day, Texas couldn’t keep Iowa State from shooting just over 57 percent from the field and 40 percent from three-point land. Iowa State also outrebounded Texas by a margin of 40-27.

With this loss to Iowa State, Texas moves their record to a slipping 14-11 (4-8 Big 12) on the season. Their NCAA Tournament hopes are fading in the blink of an eye when it looked like Smart would break the dry streak.

Although, Texas does get a bit of a break in their next game as they take on the TCU Horned Frogs at home at the Frank Erwin Center on Feb. 19.