Texas Basketball: 3 takeaways from Horns offensive collapse vs. Iowa St

Foul trouble eats away at Texas’ frontcourt

Out of the gates, Texas’ frontcourt was playing really well in this game. Senior big man Christian Bishop was hot early, with eight points in the first 11 minutes. Senior center Dylan Disu also had a half-dozen points in the first half, which was a much improved offensive effort from the big man who was held scoreless in the win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders last weekend.

But the momentum that Texas had in the frontcourt largely seemed to stall with one play that transpired with a little more than six minutes to go in the first half. Senior guard Caleb Grill wound up undercutting true freshman forward Dillon Mitchell under the basket, which caused the former five-star recruit to take a hard fall to the ground.

It looked like a really dangerous play when it first occurred. And it was lucky that Mitchell wasn’t hurt and was able to stay in the game.

Yet, there was somehow no foul call on this play, which led to Grill hitting a three-pointer on the other end of the floor a few seconds later while Texas was down a man on defense. This was a clear miss by the referees and is a danger to player safety in the Big 12.

That play would ultimately shift the momentum, as Iowa State would go on an 8-1 run to close the gap and take the lead before halftime.

Now, I must say that this missed foul call didn’t ultimately determine the outcome of the game. But it did change the course of momentum at a key point in the first half. And the most important part of the whole thing is that it shows an overall lack of attention to player safety when the ref was right in front of the play.

Moreover, Texas would wind up finding itself in foul trouble for the entire second half, especially in the frontcourt. Texas would finish up this game with season-high 28 fouls, which allowed Iowa State to get to the charity stripe for a season-high 30 attempts.

Senior forward Timmy Allen would foul out of the game late in the second half. Disu and Bishop were also in foul trouble throughout much of this game. Those two Texas big men, along with senior forward Brock Cunningham, each finished up the game with four fouls.

The fact of the matter is that it’s hard to win a game when the entire frontcourt rotation is in foul trouble while you’re trying to make a comeback push on the road against a team as good as Iowa State.