Texas Basketball: 3 reasons to pursue Oregon transfer C Francis Okoro

2. Much needed rebounding help

Sims was a good rebounder for the Longhorns last season, but he wasn’t near enough for them to win most of the battles on the glass. His 17.8 percent rebounding rate was one of the best on the team, and Okoro’s rebounding rate with Oregon last season was much of the same. The added rebounding ability that the Longhorns would get here would be enormous.

Over the course of his two year career playing in an Oregon uniform, Okoro posted a 14.6 percent rebounding rate. But his offensive rebounding percentage was higher than 12.0 in his career in Eugene. Texas could use an offensive rebounding percentage that gets the bulk of their players into the double digits.

Okoro also averaged 3.6 rebounds per game in the last two years with the Ducks (1.5 of which were on the offensive glass). Sims was the only Longhorn last season that was even able to average more than one offensive rebound per game. Granted Sims did rake in around twice as many offensive rebounds per game as Okoro last season.

Texas ranked outside the top 250 Division I programs in the country last season in total offensive rebounds, and ninth in the Big 12. In total, Texas ranked outside of the top 320 Division I programs and eight in the Big 12 in rebounds. The battle on the glass was just too big of a detriment to the Longhorns for much of the 2019-20 regular season.