Chris Beard partly to blame for Texas’ lack of full-game effort

Just a few hours ahead of tip-off for first-year head coach Chris Beard and the four-seed Texas basketball in their first game of the Big 12 Tournament on March 10, there are some noteworthy aspects to talk about. As Texas gets set to take on head coach Jamie Dixon and the five-seed TCU Horned Frogs in the first game of the Big 12 Tournament, we’re hoping to see the undefeated streak continue in this matchup.

Beard and the Longhorns have struggled against some of the better teams in the Big 12 this season. But TCU is not one of those teams that Beard and the Longhorns struggled against so far this season. Texas is 2-0 with a combined margin of victory of more than 30 points thus far against the Horned Frogs.

Moreover, for Texas to knock off the Horned Frogs on March 10, they’ll need to ensure a full 40-minute effort. While that sounds simple, it is often something that eluded Beard and the Longhorns during the regular season in some of their bigger losses.

Beard talked on that matter to the media ahead of the Longhorns’ first game in the Big 12 Tournament this week (courtesy of Horns247). He mentioned how he really doesn’t think his team has yet to play a “full 40” minutes in a game so far this season. That is pretty indicative of how Beard feels about his team’s effort heading into the postseason.

Effort issues for Texas basketball have some blame going to Chris Beard

The fact of the matter is that Texas clearly ran out of gas in certain games with big-time NCAA Tournament and Big 12 Tournament implications this season. One of the most recent examples of that was the loss for the Longhorns in the home finale at the Frank Erwin Center at the hands of the Baylor Bears. Barring a last-second three-pointer that didn’t really matter, Texas basically lost that game by 10 points when they were in it until about the last five or six minutes.

That type of trend will hurt the Longhorns if they can’t pick up the consistency of their efforts in the postseason. There are too many good teams in the Big 12 Tournament and eventually in the NCAA Tournament for the Longhorns to get away with that.

All in all, I don’t believe that Beard goes without blame here. He is right about the fact that his team needs to string together a full 40-minute effort if they want to have any shot at postseason success this year.

But this is still the team that he put together largely by way of additions out of the NCAA Transfer Portal last offseason. And since most of his additions to the roster out of the portal are upperclassmen, there shouldn’t be much of an excuse regarding lack of experience or leadership in the locker room.

While this matchup against TCU is manageable for the Longhorns (who come into this game as more than five-point favorites in Kansas City), this is also one they can’t really afford to lose. Texas needs to stop their losing streak here and finally start building up some momentum heading into Selection Sunday.

Texas comes into their first game of the Big 12 Tournament against the Horned Frogs sporting a record of 21-10 (10-8 Big 12). Tip-off time between Texas and TCU in the Big 12 Tournament on March 10 is set for 11:30 a.m. CT.