Texas Basketball: 3 reasons Longhorns can win Big 12 Tournament

2. Improved three-point shooting

Catching the momentum waive at the right time helped the Texas basketball program out in more than just the win column in the last five games. Texas also saw a dramatic improvement in their three-point shooting efficiencies of late. While neither Texas nor Oklahoma scored all that much on March 2, the former was doing well in the four games previous.

Texas now ranks No. 1 in the Big 12 in both total three-point attempts made (131) and second in three-point shooting percentage (34.8). The latter of those two numbers shows how poor some teams around the Big 12 are shooting from beyond the arc in conference play this season, but the Longhorns could use that to their advantage.

Imagine a Smart-coached team relying on their outside shooting ability to get them through the Big 12 Tournament. That didn’t ever seem like it would be an advantage given how poor some of the past Smart-coached teams were in the outside shooting and floor spacing departments since he took over on the Forty Acres.

However, what could hurt the Longhorns in this regard is missing shooting guard/small forward Jase Febres due to a lower-body injury for the remainder of the season. Febres is one of Texas’ most consistent outside shooters, but he won’t be available in the Big 12 Tournament.

Instead, Texas will have to rely on namely the outside shooting of Coleman and junior shooting guard Andrew Jones. Combine the three-point shooting percentages of Coleman and Jones and it averages around to 40.0 on the season.