Texas basketball continues home dominance with win over Iowa State

A much-needed rebound win for No. 23 ranked Texas basketball and new head coach Chris Beard came at home at the Frank Erwin Center on the afternoon of Feb. 5. Texas avenged a loss from earlier in the season against the No. 20 ranked Iowa State Cyclones with a dominant showing this weekend.

Beard and the Longhorns came into this meeting with Iowa State following a tough road loss to the Texas Tech Red Raiders and first-year head coach Mark Adams in his return to Lubbock earlier this week. Texas looked flat at the outset of that meeting with Texas Tech, sparking some potential concerns about the way they would start against Iowa State.

But Texas got off to a fast start from the get-go against Iowa State, putting most of those concerns to rest. Outside of a few runs early in the game for the Cyclones, Texas controlled this game through and through.

Iowa State is struggling in Big 12 play so far, which is also something that the Longhorns were able to take advantage of in this game.

Moreover, the first half of this game would be much closer than the second. Texas did get off to a good start in this game. But it didn’t compare to the close out that this team managed to down Iowa State by a margin of more than 20 points.

Texas would go into the locker room at halftime with a two-point lead. But Texas would blow that margin out of the water in the second half, beating Iowa State in the final 20 minutes 38-18. This resulted in Texas coming away with the win in the end by the final score of 63-41.

This was also one of the more impressive defensive performances from the Longhorns in recent memory. Texas held Iowa State to just 28.6 percent shooting from the field and 13.3 percent from beyond the arc. The Longhorns also won the battle on the boards (granted by a margin of just one) and the turnover battle by a half-dozen.

Iowa State couldn’t get much of anything going on offense all game. And that was largely due to the defensive efforts of key upperclassmen for the Longhorns such as senior forward Christian Bishop and redshirt senior shooting guard/wing Andrew Jones.

Marcus Carr and Andrew Jones power Texas basketball to a dominant home win over Iowa State

Jones and Bishop were really efficient for the Longhorns on both ends of the floor. You can see their two-way impact on the game as they combined for two blocks, two steals, and just one turnover. They also combined for two-dozen points, nine rebounds, and three assists while shooting 10-of-17 from the field and 4-of-7 from beyond the arc.

But it wasn’t just Jones and Bishop that came through in a big way for the Longhorns. Senior guard Marcus Carr was the spark for the offense in the starting unit in this win over Iowa State. He came up with a game-high 14 points, eight assists, five rebounds, one steal, no blocks, and three turnovers.

And Carr shot 6-of-12 from the field, 2-of-4 from beyond the arc, and he didn’t have any attempts from the free-throw line.

You can see the difference in the energy and efficiency Texas plays with on both ends of the floor when Carr and Jones are playing this well. Carr looks to be the catalyst for Texas’ success this season. That does come with its fair share of negatives, though. Carr is definitely one of the more inconsistent scorers in the Big 12 this season.

Yet, when Carr and Jones are on, the Longhorns are going to be one of the most challenging teams to beat in all of college hoops this season.

This win over Iowa State moves Texas to a record of 17-6 (6-4 Big 12) on the season so far. Next up for Carr and the Longhorns is a battle with the No. 10 Kansas Jayhawks and head coach Bill Self at home at the Erwin Center on Feb. 7.