On the night of March 13, head coach Shaka Smart and then No. 13 ranked Texas basketball got it done in a big way against the No. 12 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys in the final round of the Big 12 Tournament. Texas faced head coach Mike Boynton and the Pokes in the final round of the Big 12 Tournament this weekend to try and win their first conference title.
This would at least be the Longhorns first conference title on the hardwood since joining the Big 12 in the 1990’s. Texas had six previous attempts in the final round of the Big 12 Tournament, but was never able to capitalize up until this weekend.
Texas did enter this game as around a 2.5-point favorite ahead of tip off. And that betting line wound up getting doubled in the end, as Texas beat Oklahoma State by the final score of 91-86. Texas controlled the game most of the way, but Oklahoma State kept putting together some late rallies in the second half to keep things tight.
There were multiple Longhorns players that pushed this team to victory in the end. Texas got the best individual performances of the season in all likelihood from senior standout guard Matt Coleman and senior center Jericho Sims. Despite a big run from Oklahoma State’s star freshman point guard Cade Cunningham (29 points on the night), Coleman still managed a game-high 30 points in this win.
This was truly a hard fought battle for the Longhorns, and it gives them a sizable amount of momentum heading into Selection Sunday. Here’s a look into three overreactions from the Longhorns big five-point win over the Pokes to claim the Big 12 Tournament title this weekend.
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.
2) Overreactions to Texas basketball’s Big 12 Tourney win
Matt Coleman doesn’t need Courtney Ramey’s production
A lot of the attention throughout this season has fallen onto the Longhorns experienced trio of redshirt junior shooting guard/wing Andrew Jones, junior guard Courtney Ramey, and the versatile standout Coleman. Texas did get solid production from one of that trio of players, one didn’t play that well, and the other was the MVP of the game in all likelihood.
Jones shot just 1-of-8 from the field, but he was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line. He still scored in the double figures, as he often has this season. Coleman took the most shots from the field in general for the Longhorns, which was a big reason for the win. But Ramey had another down game where he managed just three points while shooting 1-of-9 from the field.
This down game from Ramey is starting to become a common theme for him in the postseason. Ramey posted a goose egg on the score sheet in Texas’ win over Texas Tech back on March 11. That saw him average just 1.5 points per game through two outings in the Big 12 Tournament this year. He now averages just 3.0 points per game in three outings in the Big 12 Tournament in his career to date.
What the showings from both Coleman and Ramey proved for the Longhorns in the postseason thus far is that they don’t really need big time contributions from the latter of those two to find success. Texas can’t always expect Coleman to do what he did for them in the Big 12 Tournament this year, but he’s more crucial to the team’s success than Ramey at this point.
1) Overreactions to Texas basketball’s Big 12 Tourney win
Texas shouldn’t be lower than a two seed for the NCAA Tournament
This one isn’t so much as an overreaction as it is the dead on truth after the Longhorns extended their winning streak to five games and topped a red hot Oklahoma State team on the same night. Smart and the Longhorns do deserve to at least be a two seed in the NCAA Tournament come the festivities on the night of Selection Sunday.
We still have to wait for the other conference tournaments to wrap up on March 14 to figure out where the Longhorns will be officially seeded for the “Big Dance”. But we do know that Texas has an automatic qualifier and adds solid wins over Texas Tech and Oklahoma State to their resume that was already pretty good at the end of the regular season.
The Big 12 Tournament didn’t even afford the Longhorns the chance to get three wins. Since the two-seeded Kansas Jayhawks and head coach Bill Self were taken out of the Big 12 Tournament semifinals after they came down with a positive COVID-19 test earlier in the week, Texas only got to face Texas Tech and Oklahoma State en route to winning the conference title.
Texas now enters Selection Sunday with a record of 19-7 (20 wins if you include the disqualification of the Jayhawks for the semifinals). Their resume includes wins over the Jayhawks, Red Raiders, Oklahoma State, West Virginia Mountaineers, North Carolina Tar Heels, Indiana Hoosiers, and Oklahoma Sooners. And they notched two wins over Kansas and Oklahoma State this season.