Texas Basketball: 3 takeaways from disappointing loss to Villanova

2) Takeaways from Texas basketball’s loss to Nova

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl overpowers the frontcourt when it matters

The player that most of the attention should’ve fallen to from Smart and the Longhorns heading into the Big 12/Big East Battle on Dec. 6 is the star sophomore Villanova forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl. Texas wasn’t able to do much to contain the Villanova’s star big man, especially down the stretch in the second half.

In this game alone, Robinson-Earl played in 36 minutes. He tied a team-high (with sophomore guard Justin Moore) with 19 points, to go along with eight rebounds (three offensive and five defensive), two assists, one block, and two turnovers. Robinson-Earl shot 9-of-14 from the field, 0-of-2 from beyond the arc, and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.

Texas didn’t have a single player in their rotation that matched the point total from Robinson-Earl and/or Moore. They also didn’t have a single player in their frontcourt rotation that came close to registering the same number of rebounds as someone on Villanova’s side like Robinson-Earl or senior forward Jermaine Samuels.

Senior center Jericho Sims and freshman power forward Greg Brown got off to a nice start in this game, but slowed down as it moved along. They combined for 14 points (6-of-13 from the field), 12 rebounds, just one assist, no steals, two blocks, and four turnovers. Sims and Brown need to be better against this level of competition if the Longhorns are to continue to remain as a bona fide top 20 team for the rest of the season.