Texas basketball: 2 studs, 1 dud from Sweet 16 win over Xavier

Stud No. 2: Christian Bishop, F

I can’t give enough props to senior forward Christian Bishop for the way he stepped up in the absence of Disu in the frontcourt rotation for most of this game against Xavier. Texas needed someone to step up and fill that void in the frontcourt on both ends of the floor that was left by Disu after the foot injury kept him out of a large portion of this contest.

Bishop definitely answered the call of the Longhorns needing someone to step up in the frontcourt unit in the Sweet 16.

He had one of his best games of the season for the Longhorns, putting up an impressive season-high 18 points in just two dozen minutes off the bench. Bishop got his 18 points on an efficient 8-of-12 shooting from the field and a perfect 2-of-2 from the free-throw line.

Bishop also helped Texas stay competitive with a lengthy Xavier team in the battle on the glass. He came up with a team-high nine rebounds, three of which came on the offensive glass to give Texas some valuable possessions back.

What’s even more amazing is that Bishop was able to give the Longhorns all this valuable production on the offensive end while turning the ball over just once. He and Rice were both awesome in terms of how efficiently they were able to score the basketball in this game coming off the bench.

Both Bishop and Rice had usage rates at nearly 30 percent in this game, yet they combined for just one turnover.

Taking care of the basketball (namely avoiding untimely turnovers and mistakes) was a critical component of this game for the Longhorns. Xavier was a proficient team in terms of being able to take advantage of opponent turnovers for most of the season. And high usage players such as Bishop and Rice barely ever turning the ball over in this game, Texas was able to set the tone most of the way.