Texas Basketball: Free-throw shooting woes kill the Longhorns

On the night of Feb. 2, No. 6 ranked Texas basketball and head coach Shaka Smart were looking to turn their recent misfortune around in the win column against their most difficult opposition of the season to date. Texas took on the undefeated and No. 2 ranked Baylor Bears at home at the Frank Erwin Center earlier this week.

This was a nice opportunity for Smart and the Longhorns to get an upset win at home, and not extend their losing streak to two games. Instead, head coach Scott Drew and his Baylor squad kept rolling. Baylor came into that game with an undefeated record of 16-0 (8-0 Big 12). As one of just two undefeated teams ranked in the top five this season, alongside the top ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs, Baylor did have some pressure on them heading into this game.

Granted Baylor wasn’t phased, especially down the stretch, notching the win over the Longhorns by the comfortable final score of 83-69. This game was separated by single digits most of the way, and there were even a few minutes where Texas held the lead.

But something we’ve become accustomed to, Baylor pulling away late, was the storyline yet again in this game. Baylor got a nice night out of the reigning All-Big 12 guard and former Auburn Tiger Davion Mitchell. In this win over Texas for the Bears, Mitchell registered a game-high 27 points, to go along with one rebound, four assists, and one steal.

On the Texas side, the trio that is senior guard Matt Coleman, junior guard Courtney Ramey, and junior shooting guard/wing Andrew Jones came up big once again. But it was also 10 turnovers combined between those three that largely led to the Longhorns demise in this game.

Texas basketball miscues vs. Baylor

What also didn’t help the Longhorns case in this game was their poor free-throw shooting. While it wouldn’t have made up the difference in the end, Texas was terrible shooting from the charity stripe against Baylor. They made just 3-of-14 attempts from the charity stripe, which definitely swung momentum in Baylor’s favor.

It was mostly the poor free-throw shooting of senior center Jericho Sims that cost the Longhorns in this game. Sims made just 2-of-8 attempts from the free-throw line, the worst mark of his career with at least six attempts in a single game.

What looked to be a really efficient stretch of late for Sims was largely dashed in this game.

Another poor performance from the line for the Longhorns on this night came from freshman power forward Greg Brown. The former highly coveted five-star recruit and Austin native Brown was pretty bad across the board. He registered just five points in 19 minutes on the floor, to go along with one rebound, one assist, one steal, and two turnovers.

As a unit, the Longhorns frontcourt rotation has to be more efficient in their looks from the charity stripe. Shooting a combined 2-of-11 from the free-throw line is not acceptable for the two usual frontcourt starters, between Sims and Brown.

Sims is now shooting just 50.8 percent from the free-throw line, a few percentage points below his career average. And Texas as a team is not shooting well from the line this season. They’re shooting around 68 percent from the charity stripe so far this season, good for falling outside of the top 230 schools in the country.

Smart and the Longhorns are set to next take superstar point guard Cade Cunningham and the Oklahoma State Cowboys on the road at Gallagher-Iba Arena on Feb. 6. Texas will then carry a record of 11-4 (5-3 Big 12) into that meeting with the Pokes in Stillwater.