Texas basketball shows grittiness in clutch time in win over Tennessee

Texas basketball and new head coach Chris Beard came away with their first win of the regular season thus far over a ranked opponent this weekend. As part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge on Jan. 29, Texas was able to give their own conference a W by capping the day with a nail-biting one-point win at home over the Tennessee Volunteers.

Beard and the Longhorns were looking for one of their bigger wins thus far in what is the final non-conference game of the regular season. And that’s exactly what this squad delivered over former Texas head coach Rick Barnes and the Vols at home at the Frank Erwin Center on the night of Jan. 29.

Some of the driving factors for the Longhorns to come up with this big 52-51 win at home over the Vols was the play of the duo of senior guard Courtney Ramey and redshirt senior shooting guard/wing Andrew Jones.

Ramey came up with one of his best performances of the season so far against Tennessee with a game-high 18 points on an efficient 6-of-10 shooting from the field, 4-of-8 from beyond the arc, but just 2-of-5 from the free-throw line. The free-throw shooting was definitely one of the few blemishes for Ramey in this game.

In this win over Tennessee, Ramey also gave the Longhorns three rebounds, three assists, one steal, one block, and two turnovers. This was a thoroughly efficient and well-rounded performance for Ramey when his team definitely needed it.

Meanwhile, Jones had another solid outing for the Longhorns coming off the bench. Jones does seem to be thriving in the sixth man role this season. That move by Beard could be helping this team find its identity in the midst of the Big 12 slate.

Jones gave Texas nine points off the bench on 4-of-7 shooting from the field, a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc, and he didn’t have any attempts from the free-throw line. He also came up with five rebounds, three assists, no steals, no blocks, and one turnover.

Andrew Jones and Courtney Ramey push Texas basketball to overcome a slow night from Tre Mitchell vs. Tennessee

A big reason why Jones was so crucial for the Longhorns in this game was the fact that he limited mistakes so well. He did have one turnover, but this was one of the more impressive outings of the season for Jones during a good stretch for him since the turn of the calendar year.

One thing the Longhorns had to overcome in this game was the sluggish play of some of the key players in the frontcourt unit. Junior center Tre Mitchell is a good example of that. This was one of the more disappointing performances of the season so far for Mitchell.

Mitchell had a game-high five turnovers in this win over the Vols. He actually had more turnovers than points, with just four on the night.

This was just a game where Mitchell didn’t make much of a positive impact in any regard. He had just two rebounds, two assists, no steals, and one block. Texas’ forward trio in the starting unit of senior Timmy Allen, senior Christian Bishop, and Mitchell just didn’t do this team many favors in the turnover department.

The frontcourt trio of Allen, Mitchell, and Bishop combined for a whopping 11 turnovers in this game. Tennessee won the turnover battle by a good margin largely thanks to the nearly dozen turnovers from that trio. As a team, the Vols had just eight turnovers in this game.

Texas was fortunate to overcome their turnover issues to still come out on top in this meeting with the Vols. You can thank a very efficient night shooting from the field and from beyond the arc for Texas for how they were able to overcome that issue.

As a team, the Longhorns shot 54 percent from the field and 62 percent from beyond the arc. Combine that type of shooting night with a strong defensive outing and you will get a Texas win more often than not.

Texas will just have to tame the turnover problems in the weeks ahead.

After this win over the Vols at home on Jan. 29, the Longhorns are now sporting a record of 16-5 (5-3 Big 12) as they will be looking to crack the major top 25 polls again in the coming week. Texas is also now sitting on a three-game winning streak with triumphs over the Oklahoma State Cowboys, TCU Horned Frogs, and now the Vols dating back to last weekend.