Texas Basketball: 2 studs, 1 dud from stomping of Iowa State

An awesome performance from No. 8 Texas basketball against head coach TJ Otzelberger and the No. 23 Iowa State Cyclones at home at the Moody Center in Austin saw this team absolutely lock down defensively. In one of the best defensive performances we’ve seen from this team in Big 12 play so far this season, Texas held Iowa State to just 54 points on just over 42 percent shooting from the field and a measly 21 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

Interim head coach Rodney Terry and the Longhorns did exactly what they needed to do on the court on Feb. 21 to put themselves in a prime position to contend for the Big 12 regular season crown in the next couple of weeks.

While Texas does have some tough games remaining, notching this big 72-54 win over Iowa State this week was crucial. Texas is now in a spot to likely take the Big 12 regular season crown if it can beat the No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks at home in the finale on March 4.

Tyrese Hunter leads No. 8 Texas basketball past his former team

But what Texas did in this win over Iowa State was huge. This was one of the most complete efforts I’ve seen from Texas all season. There were contributions from the bench, as usual. But it came from some different sources and in different ways. Senior forward Brock Cunningham and freshman guard Arterio Morris both provided sparks off the bench in different ways.

Texas was also very efficient when it needed to be on offense, and in transition.

With all of this in mind, here’s a look at the two studs and one dud from Texas’ dominating 18-point win over Iowa State on Feb. 21.