Julian Larry, G
Texas's proven and experienced support guard depth from the transfer portal was impressive on paper on the roster this season. Senior guard Julian Larry joined fellow former Indiana State transfer Kent as grad transfers who joined the Longhorns from the portal last offseason.
Larry and Kent were two of the most reliable and efficient two-way performers in the Missouri Valley Conference for Indiana State last season.
A combination of injuries and up and down play on the court have greatly limited the impact Larry and Kent had on the Longhorns' rotation early this season. Kent missed arguably Texas's biggest non-conference game this regular season last weekend against UConn.
Larry hasn't gotten as many touches facilitating the offense or shooting from the field and from beyond the arc in the past two games, leading to Texas's bench being outscored by more than double against UConn and by double-digits against NC State.
The struggles Larry has faced recently can be attributed to the offensive sets he's running in the floor general role this season for Texas's second unit off the bench. Instead of being allowed to command a free-flowing offense that moves the ball around the perimeter and finds open shot-makers off-ball open from beyond the arc and dishing into the paint from the three-point line, Larry is being asked to drive the ball more and get into the paint to draw contact.
He's also getting forced into more late-shot clock situations and iso ball as Texas has struggled to get into its offensive sets in the past few games, especially against NC State and UConn. Larry is an established shot-maker from beyond the arc and a good distributor of the basketball around the perimeter.
Despite having the second-worst field-goal percentage on the team this season on lay-up and dunk attempts in the paint (below 50 percent), Larry has the second-most field goal attempts around the rim in the second half and clutch time.
Last season, the Longhorns had a massive overreliance on the scoring and overall production of just two star players, senior guard Max Abmas and senior big man Dylan Disu. To solve that problem of top-heavy scoring stars for Terry and the Longhorns last offseason, the backcourt and wing rotations were upgraded with multiple proven and impact scorers from the transfer portal and high school recruiting in the 2024 signing class.
Combined, Abmas and Disu averaged 43 percent of Texas's team scoring per game.
Grad transfers like Larry, Tramon Mark, Kent, etc. were supposed to give Texas more off-ball scoring options and expand the half-court settled offense versatility and ball movement around the perimeter.
After the season's first nine games, the Longhorns only have two players scoring in double figures (Kaluma-14.3 PPG, Johnson-21.1 PPG). Johnson and Kaluma's combined scoring numbers actually account for a larger portion of Texas's team scoring in points per game this season than Disu and Abmas did last year for the Longhorns.
Larry hasn't made a single field goal attempt in three games, since Delaware State on Nov. 29. In the past 30 minutes he's played off the bench for the Longhorns against NC State and UConn, Larry has two assists and four turnovers.
In each of the past three seasons (including the current one), Larry was at least a 40 percent shooter from deep. Despite his three-point shooting efficiency, Larry's three-point attempt rate has dipped by nearly 10 percent this season with the Longhorns.
All told, I would like to see Larry pass the ball off to his open teammates more than he has in the past few games when he drives down the lane on offense. He also needs to be more confident in his ability to pull up from deep than he has been in most games early this regular season for the Longhorns.