Texas hosts Xavier Sunday in 2nd round of NIT

By Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer

AUSTIN – There’s philosophical question that asks, “if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”

Texas’ 79-73 win over South Dakota State Tuesday in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament, watched in person by 1,739 patrons at the Erwin Center and countless hundreds more on a national television broadcast, draws comparisons to that question – and not in a good way.

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The win allows the Longhorns (17-16) to advance to the round of 16 on Sunday where it will play third-seeded Xavier at the Erwin Center. The Musketeers beat sixth-seeded Toledo 78-64 on Wednesday in Cincinnati to earn a berth opposite Texas.

“My overwhelming feeling is I don’t want the season to end,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said after the win over South Dakota State. “I want to keep coaching these guys. I want to keep helping these guys get better. I want everyone on our team to share that feeling.”

The second-seeded Longhorns did plenty of things well in the victory, especially senior forward Dylan Osetkowski – who obviously wants to extend his college career at most any cost – but did anyone really notice?

Osetkowski poured in a career-high 26 points and went 9 of 13 from the field in the win.

“We’re playing in March. It’s another day to play the game that we love,” Osetkowski said. “I just came out with an aggressive mindset. Just wanted to make my mark on the game.”

Osetkowski’s performance included a season-high 4 of 6 shooting from 3-point range and he added a pair of crucial late-game steals.

“We’re playing, that’s all we can say – we’re still playing. As long as we’re going to continue playing basketball, we might as well keep winning games and try to make a run.”

Added Smart, “The biggest thing I saw from Dylan was what we call the ‘approach-goal mindset,’ which is going after something as opposed to playing not to make a mistake or to keep something bad from happening. I liked the way he was aggressive. One of the, I guess, silver linings of being in the NIT is he gets to play another game here.”

Courtney Ramey added 13 points for the Longhorns while Kerwin Roach II finished with 12 in the win over the seventh-seeded Jackrabbits, who did not go down without a fight.

Texas scored the game’s first 19 points, led by eight at the half and by 10 points four and a half minutes into the second half before South Dakota State forged a huge rally. After momentarily giving up their lead, the Longhorns fought back, went up 74-71 after a Matt Coleman III jumper with 1:43 to play, and held on late.

In case there were any doubts whether or not Xavier wanted to play in the NIT after falling short of the NCAA Tournament, the Musketeers’ smiles after their dismantling of Toledo squashed those doubts.

Sophomore forward Naji Marshall had just done something in a Xavier jersey that no player since former star and NBA standout David West had done – a 20-point, 21-rebound performance.

“If we’re gonna be in it we might as well try to win it,” Xavier’s Tyrique Jones said.
“Coach (Travis Steele) preached to us that before any of us got here this program is built on competing in everything we do. No matter what tournament it is … we’re gonna compete.”

Texas needs two more wins to advance to the storied tournament’s version of the Final Four, which has been held each year since 1938 at Madison Square Garden in New York. That would be an accomplishment for a team that has been enigmatic and erratic all season – but how much weight that could carry into the offseason is debatable.

“Getting them to refocus, that’s the biggest challenge,” Smart said about preparing his team for the NIT and not the NCAAs. “The teams that advance in the NIT in any given year, that’s one thing they’re able to do.”

Smart is now 67-66 in his four seasons on the Forty Acres. His comments after the win  Tuesday shows that he understands that he’s coaching for his job, if not in this tournament, then – without a doubt – next season.

“For me, I’ve got pride,” Smart said. “You can check my guts. I’m going to work my butt off, man. I’m going to do what I feel like is the best thing for our team, regardless of the circumstances or what anyone else says. I’ve got to focus on what I can control.”

Whatever success the Longhorns have through the rest of the NIT, it will have to be produced without the services of 6-foot-11 forward Jaxson Hayes. The Big 12 freshman of the year was on crutches at the South Dakota game after suffering a left knee injury in the final minutes of Texas’ loss against Kansas last week in the Big 12 tourney.

The school said Friday that Hayes’ injury is a bone bruise and that there is no structural damage to the knee, but he will not return this season.

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