Texas Basketball: 2 studs, 1 dud from Longhorns easy win vs. Rice

Dud: Max Abmas, G

In the last two games, senior guard Max Abmas has struggled to get things going on the offensive end in the first half. Abmas only managed five points on 2-of-3 shooting from the field with two turnovers and one assist in the first half against Rice.

Abmas had more success finding a rhythm on the offensive end out of the gates in the second half as he got into the double figures within the first seven minutes coming out of the locker room after halftime. But some of the issues Abmas dealt with in the first half appeared again in the final 20 minutes.

He turned the ball over two more times in the second half. There were a couple of unforced errors that ultimately led to Abmas’ four turnovers in this game.

And while he did knock down one more shot in the second half than the first, he still finished up this game, averaging just over a point per field goal attempt (5-of-9 from the field for 13 points).

Abmas didn’t get to the charity stripe a single time on nine field goal attempts. He hasn’t traditionally been a guard that gets to the line a ton, given that he is a volume scorer. But you’d like to see Abmas getting to the line at least once on a night like this, where he’s nearly in the double figures in field goal attempts.

On the defensive end, Abmas did come up with one steal. Texas’ backcourt also did a nice job on the defensive end, holding starting Rice guards Mekhi Mason and Travis Evee to just 16 points on a meager 5-of-18 shooting from the field.

This wasn’t necessarily a bad outing from Abmas. But I would like to see more out of him on the offensive end, especially while facing overmatched opponents in the non-con like Rice. This stat says a lot about Abmas’ insane scoring run during his collegiate career since his time at Oral Roberts, but this is the first three-game stretch he’s had since last November without scoring at least 20 points (per Sports Reference).