Texas Basketball: 3 overreactions after the last-second win over OU

The first game of the Big 12 slate went the way of acting head coach Rodney Terry and No. 6 Texas basketball on Dec. 31. Texas was able to take down head coach Porter Moser and the Oklahoma Sooners in a tough environment on the road at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve.

But this win didn’t come easy for Terry and the Longhorns as Oklahoma fought hard until the very end. Oklahoma pushed Texas, including a late buzzer-beater that was ultimately all for naught.

The buzzer-beater three-pointer at the end of the second half wound up giving Texas the win by the final score of 70-69.

This was big for the Longhorns to get a win in its first true road game of the season. Texas had only played games at home or at neutral sites through the first dozen games of the regular season.

The win over Oklahoma will also serve as another valuable experience for this experienced Longhorns team. Being able to close out this close win in a trying situation on the road against a challenging opponent such as the Sooners is an experience gained that will be valuable come March and April.

Overreactions after Marcus Carr and No. 6 Texas basketball down OU by one point to open up Big 12 play

With that in mind, here’s a look at three overreactions following the Longhorns’ tight one-point win over Oklahoma on Dec. 31.

Arterio Morris should start getting more minutes while Tyrese Hunter is struggling offensively

The offensive struggles in the last few weeks for sophomore guard Tyrese Hunter are quite pronounced. After getting off to a hot start in the first month of the regular season, Hunter has completely cooled down in the last six games.

In the last half-dozen games, Hunter has only scored in the double figures once. And he continued struggling to find his offensive game in the win over Oklahoma this weekend.

Against the Sooners, Hunter registered just five points on a poor 1-of-7 shooting from the field, 0-of-3 from beyond the arc, and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. Hunter also posted four rebounds, two assists, one steal, and three turnovers.

This was one of the worst performances of the season to date for the former Iowa State Cyclone and the reigning Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.

Hunter turned the ball over too much and still wasn’t able to find his shot from the field and specifically from deep. The turnover issues were something of a new occurrence for Hunter, though. Combine the turnover issues with the scoring struggles, and you will find a situation where Hunter is in one of the worst funks of his career to date.

According to Sports Reference, Hunter has the lowest game score of any Texas guard in the usual rotation in the last six games.

These issues also can’t repeat themselves if Hunter wants to keep his spot in the starting unit for too much longer. I would imagine that if Hunter’s offensive struggles continue for the next few games that freshman guard Arterio Morris will start to eat into some of his minutes.

Morris is already getting more playing time off the bench in the last few weeks given how he’s starting to find his game on both ends of the floor. Morris is giving a ton of effort on and off-ball on the defensive end. And he’s shooting the ball extremely well from the field and from deep in the last six games.

During that span, Morris is shooting an impressive 51.4 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from beyond the arc.

Although Morris only got a dozen minutes off the bench against Oklahoma, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to see him get more opportunities in the next few games. He’s just playing too well while Hunter is struggling immensely on the offensive end for Terry not to make that adjustment in the near future.