Texas Basketball: Controversial play dooms Longhorns winning streak

The result that No. 12 ranked Texas basketball desired in a big outing against the No. 13 ranked West Virginia Mountaineers on the afternoon of Feb. 20 didn’t go as planned. A nearly 20 point lead held by Texas was blown in the second half, as this team largely collapsed down the stretch.

Head coach Shaka Smart and the Longhorns had this outing against West Virginia at home at the Frank Erwin Center this weekend end in a rough manner. Texas had a last second play where they tried to tie the game against the Mountaineers.

Both freshman power forward Greg Brown and senior center Jericho Sims were trying to get to the rim with less than two seconds to go in the second half. But each was blocked on their paths in various ways. Sims was swatted in the arm when he tried to go up for this last-second opportunity at the rim.

Tough outcome for Texas basketball

And Brown was held back in around a screen that was set. Neither was able to get to where they wanted to be on this final play. Despite the Longhorns having all of this happen on the final play, there were no fouls called. Thus the game ended with a final score of 84-82 going in West Virginia’s favor.

West Virginia wound up winning the second half by a score of 41-29, leaving the Longhorns in heartbreak just as it seemed like they were turning the corner for good back to being a top 10 caliber team.

Sims was solid for the Longhorns overall in this game. He registered 14 points, five rebounds, one assist, no steals, and one block. And he shot 7-of-9 from the field, had no attempts from beyond the arc, and went 0-of-1 from the charity stripe.

Meanwhile, Brown wasn’t very good for the Longhorns this weekend. He didn’t register any points in the loss to West Virginia, but he did have eight rebounds, no assists, one steal, and one block.

This loss for the Longhorns to the Mountaineers means that these two teams split their regular season series one game a piece. Texas now moves to sport a record of 13-6 (7-5 Big 12). This month was not very good to this team so far.

Texas will next face the surging No. 23 ranked Kansas Jayhawks at home at the Erwin Center on Feb. 23. Texas and Kansas are set to tip off later in the week at the Erwin Center at 8 p.m.