Texas Basketball vs. Gonzaga: 5 bold predictions for top-12 showdown

Drew Timme’s scoring is cut in half compared to last season

The difference in the game last season that led Gonzaga past Texas was the two-time All-American big man Drew Timme. The experienced senior was a force to be reckoned with last season as he had a career game for the Zags in a convincing win over the Longhorns.

Timme put up a career-high 37 points on 15-of-19 shooting from the field and 7-of-9 from the free-throw line. He also helped Gonzaga win the battle on the glass, pulling down seven rebounds. Timme even distributed the ball pretty well, coming up with three assists.

There wasn’t any other big man that even came close to dominating the Longhorns the way that Timme did last season.

That’s why limiting the effectiveness of Timme is one of the most obvious keys to success for the Longhorns in this game.

Timme is one of the premier returning players for the Zags this season, and he’s already averaging a whopping 22 points per game thus far.

It looks like Gonzaga might be relying on Timme even more than last season in terms of sparking this offense. Timme has a usage rate of nearly 34 percent this season, which is a career-high. And I don’t think that sky-high usage rate is a fluke early this season, given some of the losses that the Zags experienced in other parts of the rotation.

With the goal of this game being clear, that Texas must limit Timme’s inside scoring, I think the focus will be there to at least hold him at bay on half of his touches. Timme was able to exploit the lack of help defense down low at times last season when these two teams met. He also had his way in the paint with big man Christian Bishop.

I would imagine that Texas tries to get more matchups with Timme on junior big man Dylan Disu, who was out due to injury issues when the Longhorns faced the Bulldogs last year.