Texas Basketball: 3 most important senior leaders down the stretch

The final stretch of three games for the 2022-23 regular season begins for interim head coach Rodney Terry and No. 8 Texas basketball on the road at the Ferrell Center in Waco, TX, on Feb. 25 against the No. 9 ranked Baylor Bears. Texas will face three straight ranked opponents to round out the 2022-23 regular season.

Terry and the Longhorns actually faced four straight ranked opponents to close out the regular season slate. But the Longhorns already passed the first of these four tests, which came against head coach TJ Otzelberger and the No. 23 Iowa State Cyclones at home at the Moody Center in Austin on Feb. 21.

Texas topped Iowa State on Feb. 21 at home by a convincing final score of 72-54.

The Longhorns will now look to close out with a Big 12 regular season crown. In order for that to happen, Texas likely must win two of the final three games at least remaining on the regular season slate.

Key senior leaders that must step up for Texas basketball in the next couple of months

With that in mind, here’s a look at the three most important senior leaders for the Longhorns that must rise to the occasion for this team down the stretch.

Timmy Allen, F

In the last couple of seasons, one of the x-factors for the Longhorns at critical stretches was senior forward Timmy Allen. The fifth-year senior came up big in some important games down the stretch for the Longhorns last season (i.e. his 26-point performance vs. West Virginia and 14 points vs. Virginia Tech).

But there were also some duds that we got out of Allen when it mattered most. He was completely shut down by the three-seed Purdue Boilermakers in the double-digit Round of 32 loss in the NCAA Tournament last year, being held to just two points on 1-of-6 shooting from the field.

However, Allen explained during the offseason that one of the main reasons why he wanted to return to Texas for the 2022-23 season was to go deeper in the NCAA Tournament and to win a Big 12 Championship. He mentioned in an October media availability session that he thought there “was a lot left on the bone” last season when Texas exited the NCAA Tournament during the Round of 32.

If Texas is to make a deep NCAA Tournament run and win the Big 12, it will need Allen to be at his best. Whether he is facilitating the offense, or scoring the ball himself, Allen is a key cog that makes this team go.

And while this might sound obvious, it’s key to note that Texas holds a record of 1-4 this season when Allen finishes up games with worse than a -5 net rating on the floor. He is the only player on this team that has had such an effect this season. Marcus Carr, Dillon Mitchell, and Dylan Disu had multiple games with net ratings worse than -5, and Texas was able to win more than one contest in each of these situations for this trio.