Texas Basketball: 3 struggling players that must step up in January

The quest to move a six-game winning streak to seven will take place for acting head coach Rodney Terry and No. 6 Texas basketball on Jan. 3 against a solid Kansas State Wildcats under the direction of first-year head coach Jerome Tang.

Texas won its fifth game in a row on Dec. 31 as it opened up Big 12 play on a high note. Terry and the Longhorns downed the Oklahoma Sooners in the Red River Rivalry game on the hardwood on the road in Norman on New Year’s Eve by the final score of 70-69.

The one-point win over Oklahoma moved Texas’ record on the season to 12-1 (1-0 Big 12). That extended the Longhorns’ winning streak to a half-dozen games, dating back to a dominant 88-43 victory over the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions at home at the Moody Center on Dec. 10.

While Texas does have a manageable stretch of games coming up, there really aren’t any true easy nights in the Big 12. Texas gets Kansas State at home at the Moody Center in Austin on Jan. 3, and then hits the road to face head coach Mike Boynton and the Oklahoma State Cowboys in Stillwater on Jan. 7.

Tyrese Hunter and the struggling Texas basketball players that must rise up in January

Texas will need some of its better players to really step up during this early stretch in Big 12 play when the team could get off to an undefeated start through the first few games. With that in mind, here’s a look at three struggling Longhorns players that must step up in Big 12 play in January.

Dillon Mitchell, F

It was just a couple of games ago that I posted about the hot streak that the former elite five-star recruit and true freshman forward Dillon Mitchell was on. In mid-to-late December, it looked like Mitchell found a spark, which peaked during the convincing 97-72 win over the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions at home on Dec. 27.

In that win over Texas A&M-Commerce, Mitchell registered a career-high 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field, along with five rebounds, and one block.

While Mitchell was solid and looked to find his game in the win over Texas A&M-Commerce last week, he came back down to earth in the win over Oklahoma over the weekend. Against the Sooners, Mitchell registered just two points in 14 minutes on the floor.

Despite getting the start against Oklahoma, Mitchell played fewer minutes than all but one Longhorns player. That includes three Longhorns players that came off the bench in that game.

Mitchell’s struggles of late largely have to do with the inability to expand his scoring range from within four-to-six feet from the basket. He has yet to attempt a single three-pointer on the season. And fewer than 25 percent of his field goal attempts on the season have come from mid-range or deep, according to Barttorvik.

It’s clear that some of the better defensive teams that the Longhorns face this season are starting to pick up on the limitations that Mitchell faces on the offensive end. And that will continue to hurt him if he can’t start to expand his jump shot to at least eight or 10 feet from the rim.

We also haven’t seen Mitchell do much in terms of being the disruptor we know he can be on the defensive end in the last few games. After posting steals in eight straight games earlier this season, Mitchell hasn’t registered a single one in the last three outings. And outside of one block against the Sooners, Mitchell hasn’t forced a single defensive disruption in the last three games.