Texas Basketball: 3 reasons the Longhorns will upset No. 1 Gonzaga

Texas has the experience necessary to deal with Gonzaga on the perimeter

While the Longhorns and Zags haven’t met any time in the last couple of seasons, there are some players that Texas must be familiar with. Namely, Texas has faced one of Gonzaga’s top starting guards this season in the former Iowa State Cyclone and Penn State Nittany Lion Rasir Bolton.

Gonzaga lost the likes of star freshman point guard Jalen Suggs and shooting guard/wing Joel Ayayi this year to the NBA. But the starters that Few had to replace Suggs and Ayayi with this season aren’t too shabby either. Bolton and the lengthy 6-foot-7 sophomore guard Julian Strawther are two of the players that replaced Suggs and Ayayi this season.

Andrew Nembhard is the other guard/wing rounding out this portion of the starting unit for Few and the Zags. And between film and actual game experience, Texas should have more than enough resources to deal with these three on this night.

The senior guard/wing trio of Marcus Carr, Courtney Ramey, and Andrew Jones, are all solid defenders that can also score at a high level. Don’t count out the likes of sophomore guard Devin Askew and senior sharpshooting guard/wing Jase Febres in this game either.

I would expect the likes of Ramey and Carr to come out firing in this game. Ramey has faced Bolton before. And Carr has even faced Bolton once, among a couple of other Zags transfer additions.

Moreover, Bolton wasn’t all that efficient in three prior matchups against Texas. He averaged around 11 points per game, two rebounds, and one assist. But he also shot 43 percent from the field, just 12.5 percent from beyond the arc, and turned the ball over around four times per game.

Don’t expect Bolton to have the ball in his hands as the primary initiator all that often. But he can be a source for Texas to cause some turnovers in this game. Carr and Ramey should be able to wreak some havoc against the duo of Nembhard and Bolton if they play sound defense here.

Expect Jones to also put his best foot forward as he’s likely to be matched up against Strawther.