Head coach Rodney Terry and Texas basketball have a lot of work to do in SEC play to improve their resume for the NCAA Tournament in the postseason. After the regular season's first nine games, Texas is 0-2 in Quad 1 and Quad 2 games, including last weekend's double-digit loss at the Moody Center to the No. 25 UConn Huskies.
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Texas (7-2, 0-0 SEC) does have a handful of wins against major conference teams this season that could carry some weight on its resume for the NCAA Tournament for the selection committee next spring.
The Longhorns have a road win over the NC State Wolfpack in the SEC/ACC Challenge, along with neutral site victories in the Legends Classic against the Syracuse Orange and St. Joseph's Hawks.
Texas has an issue this season of both a production overreliance on freshman guard Tre Johnson and senior forward Arthur Kaluma, and an identity problem on the offensive end of the floor. For the Longhorns to have a successful run in SEC play, the secondary and tertiary scoring must be up to snuff against some of the better competition in the conference in a couple of months.
Here are three Texas players who must step it up in the final four games of non-conference play before the SEC conference slate begins in early January.
Ze'Rik Onyema, PF
Texas's frontcourt depth has been tested by some good bigs on major conference opposing teams in the past couple of weeks. Earlier this week in the loss to UConn, Texas had to deal with All-Big East junior forward and two-time National Champion Alex Karaban for the Huskies.
Last week, the Longhorns faced an experienced and talented NC State frontcourt in the SEC/ACC Challenge, including seniors Will Middlebrooks and Brandon Hutley-Hatfield.
Texas had to rely on its entire frontcourt depth to step up early this season, especially in those games against NC State and UConn in the past couple of weeks. It's been critical for the Longhorns to get significant frontcourt contributions from the reserves this season, including senior forward Jayson Kent and redshirt senior power forward Ze'Rik Onyema.
Senior frontcourt starters Arthur Kaluma and Kadin Shedrick couldn't do it all by themselves. Onyema has played a bigger role in Texas's frontcourt this season than he did last year after transferring in from UTEP during the 2023 offseason.
Onyema is averaging 10 minutes per game coming off the bench for the Longhorns. Early this season, he had a handful of very productive games for the Longhorns coming off the bench, including 18 points in a home win over Chicago State on Nov. 12 and four points, three rebounds, and one steal in the win over Syracuse in the Legends Classic a few weeks ago.
But in the past two games, Onyema's contributions and overall production have taken a significant dip. Averaging just seven minutes off the bench per game against UConn and NC State in those two games, Onyema has zero points, two rebounds, one steal, and one block.
For a frontcourt player that is averaging the most minutes off the bench of any reserve Texas big man this season, Onyema needs to be a more emphatic presence in the paint and in the box score each game for the Longhorns.
Onyema, at 6-foot-9 and 235 pounds, is too big and too strong to not be putting up solid rebounding and rim protection efficiency metrics for the Longhorns this season. Texas also needs the proven size and experience Onyema has as a five-year player in Division 1 college hoops to help the younger bigs, like freshmen Jamie Vinson and Nic Codie, develop for the future in the SEC.