Texas Basketball: 3 overreactions to Big 12 Tournament win over OK State

3) Overreactions to Texas basketball’s Big 12 Tourney win

Jericho Sims and Kai Jones will be the frontcourt’s dominant force

To get to where they are now, the Longhorns had to take down both a hot Oklahoma State team and a very stingy No. 20 ranked and six-seed Texas Tech Red Raiders squad led by head coach Chris Beard in the Big 12 Tournament. Texas definitely had a tough road, which was bound to happen if they were to win the Big 12 Tournament anyway.

The powering force in the Texas frontcourt to get the wins both over Oklahoma State and Texas Tech were the breakthrough sophomore power forward Kai Jones and Sims. The former of those two Longhorns big men is well established at this point as the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year Award winner this season. But he’s starting to prove himself more on the national stage.

Sims also is breaking through on a bigger stage than he really ever has before in his four years playing for Smart and the Longhorns. The consistency of which Sims has produced in various roles for Texas over the course of the last four years is underrated. He’s finally getting his due of respect on the national stage around the media landscape.

In the win over the Pokes in the final round of the Big 12 Tournament, Sims registered an ultra impressive 21 points, game-high 14 rebounds, two assists, three steals, and two blocks. This was by far the highest game score of the season to date for Sims.

And Jones was a big contributing factor for the Longhorns in this spot too. Jones actually got in the starting five in this game and registered 13 points, five rebounds, and just one turnover in just 18 minutes played after running into foul trouble.