By Riley Zayas
AUSTIN, Texas — “They get it, but we got to go do it.”
That was Texas men’s basketball head coach Shaka Smart’s main message to media following Texas’ loss to Baylor last Saturday night.
Go do it they must, as the Longhorns enter the second week of Big 12 action still seeking their first conference victory of the season. The Horns will have two chances to accomplish that goal this week, as they face off Wednesday against Oklahoma at 8 p.m. (Central time) and at 7 p.m. Saturday against Kansas State.
The Sooners have a 10-3 record this season, as they[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] kicked off their 2019-20 campaign by rattling off five straight victories before falling to Stanford. They played several quality teams in non-conference play, including Wichita State, Creighton and Missouri, which appeared to help them out as they began the new year with a 66-61 win over the Wildcats of Kansas State in the conference opener last Saturday.
OU is anchored by point guard Jamal Bieniemy, who started the final 17 games of last season and has played in all 13 games this season, starting 12. He has emerged as a dynamic ballhandler dishing out a team-high 35 assists this season.
“I learned last year that you’ve got to be a leader no matter what,” he told Athlon Sports earlier in the year.
Along with Bieniemy, guard Austin Reaves has been OU’s sharpshooter, hitting 40 percent of his shots from the field and 39 percent from behind the three-point arc this season. The redshirt junior plays primarily on the wing and has displayed his quickness with 16 steals.
On the inside, senior Kristian Doolittle has the ability to cause the most damage in the paint. One of two seniors on the roster, Doolittle was named the Big 12’s Most Improved Player last season after posting a team-high 7.1 rebounds per game. He has continued to crash the boards in 2019-20, leading the team with 101 rebounds while averaging 16.9 points per game. His matchup against Longhorn forward Jericho Sims will be one to watch, as they have been the go-to guys in the post for their respective teams this season.
Since the 1949-50 season, the Sooners lead the series, 47-36, in the basketball version of the Red River Showdown.
Kansas State was projected by Athlon Sports to play in this season’s NIT Tournament after losing three key starters — Barry Brown, Kamau Stokes and Dean Wade — from last season. However, senior Xavier Sneed is back, a major positive for head coach Bruce Weber. Sneed has carried the offense in multiple games this season, scoring at least 20 points on three occasions. Containing Sneed, who averages 15.0 points per game, will be critical for the Longhorns.
Even with the high-caliber play of Sneed, the young Wildcats had a bit of trouble in non-conference play. At the Fort Myers Tip-off, they fell twice in three days, first to Pitt and then to Bradley, but they also have managed key victories against UNLV and Tulsa. Kansas State has a 7-6 record heading into a Tuesday night matchup against TCU before taking on Texas.
Like the series against OU, Texas also has a losing record (16-22) aganst Kansas State since the teams first faced each other during the 1949-50 season.
The Oklahoma game will also be broadcast on ESPN2, while the Kansas State game will be carried on the Longhorn Network. Both can be heard on the radio on 104.9 the Horn.
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