Texas Basketball: 3 cold players off to disappointing starts to Big 12 play

Tyrese Hunter, G

The most notable slump that any Longhorns player is going through in the last month or two definitely belongs to sophomore guard and the reigning Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Tyrese Hunter. After a strong start to his first season at Texas, Hunter has hit a wall since early-to-mid December.

Since Dec. 10, though, Hunter has scored more than 10 points in a game just one time. That came during his 29-point outburst in the defensive collapse that Texas suffered in a 116-103 loss against the Kansas State Wildcats on Jan. 3.

And while it looked like Hunter was about to be able to break his slump with a hot start on the road in his return to Ames against Iowa State earlier this week, his offensive production petered out after the first five or 10 minutes. Hunter started out with nine points early in the first half, just to go the final 30 minutes of the game just hitting one free-throw to finish up with 10 points.

Some of the advanced metrics that Hunter has posted in Big 12 play are pretty horendous. He’s registered just .006 win shares per 40 minutes, which is literally the minimum without having zero or negative win shares over this six-game span.

Hunter is also turning the ball over more than he is picking up assists in Big 12 play, with a 13.2 assist percentage compared to a 16.0 turnover percentage.

It seems as if some of the recent turbulent events surrounding the Texas hoops program got to Hunter more than it did most of the rest of this team. Most advanced metrics (player efficiency rating, win shares, win shares per 40 minutes, etc.) literally peg him as the least efficient player on this team since the start of January.