Texas Basketball: 3 takeaways from Longhorns’ tough loss to UConn

Texas’ frontcourt will be devastating once Dylan Disu and Kadin Shedrick return from injury

There is a valid argument that Texas could’ve won this game against the Huskies had Shedrick and Disu been healthy in the frontcourt. But that was not the case, as the Longhorns were missing Shedrick for the first time this season due to an injury.

And Disu missed the seventh straight game dating back to last postseason due to rehab from a lower-body injury.

Texas clearly felt Shedrick’s absence early in this game against UConn, especially on the offensive end of the floor. That’s not surprising, given that Shedrick was Texas’ best source of offense while putting up a career-high 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the field in the last-second clutch win over Louisville over the weekend.

Terry and the Longhorns were forced to turn to starting junior big man Ze’Rik Onyema at the five with Disu and Shedrick out. That created a major size mismatch down low when Onyema matched up against the 7-foot-2 UConn sophomore center Donovan Clingan.

UConn had the early edge on the glass, and in paint scoring with the significant size advantage it had down low. The Huskies outrebounded the Longhorns 23-15 and outscored them in the paint 18-14 in the first half.

But Texas toughened up down low in the second half, narrowing the rebounding margin to 17-14 in favor of the Huskies. The paint scoring battle was also dead even in the second half.

We have to credit Onyema and Mitchell for hanging tough in the second half against a stout and lengthy UConn frontcourt unit. But this entire team contributed to the defensive efforts to keep things close in the final 20 minutes.

The fight Texas showed without Shedrick and Disu in the frontcourt against a very talented and well-rounded top-five-ranked UConn squad shows that the Longhorns will be dangerous once they return to the frontcourt rotation.