Dexter 2.0: Ridley’s emergence mirrors and exceeds Pittman’s UT career

If the success the Texas men’s basketball team’s found so far this season feels like a blast from the past, that feeling may come from more than just the winning.

One large – and imposing – reason Texas has surged to a 15-4 mark before the midway mark of Big 12 Conference play comes from the exponential improvement of [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] sophomore center Cameron Ridley. And the big man’s improvement feels very similar to that of Dexter Pittman during his time on the 40 Acres.

Though Ridley arrived with a better resume than Pittman — he earned McDonald’s All-America honors as a high school senior at Fort Bend Bush — Ridley’s freshman year looked very much like Pittman’s first two. Both players struggled to overcome fitness challenges and needed lots of attention from strength coach Todd Wright.

Pittman arrived at Texas as a larger-than-life freshman for the 2006-07 season standing 6-foot-10 but topping the scales at 366 pounds. Working with Wright, Pittman shed 70 pounds before the season tipped off but still found it hard to play extended minutes. In his freshman and sophomore seasons, Pittman played in spots but averaged just 6.2 minutes per game. In those minutes he gave the Longhorns nearly three points and two rebounds.

Then something clicked. Wright’s grueling workout program continued to get Pittman in shape, and as his physical conditioning improved, so did his confidence. At 6-10 and 285 pounds, Pittman discovered that if he could establish position inside and keep the ball up – instructions that Barnes preaches to Ridley now – few teams could stop him.

Over his last two years, Pittman started 58 of 69 games, averaged nearly 18 minutes per game and contributed 10.3 points and 5.7 rebounds with 96 blocked shots. As a junior, he played at least 20 minutes in the team’s last eight games, which included a 19 point, 20 rebound performance in a 61-58 win over K-State in the Big 12 tournament, a career-high 26 point, 10 rebound effort in a 67-56 win over Colorado and a 17 point, 11 rebound game in a 76-62 win over Minnesota in the NCAA tournament. His senior season saw him score 23 points and grab 15 rebounds in Texas’ 103-90 win over North Carolina.

The reward: the Miami Heat drafted Pittman in the second round of the 2010 NBA draft, at which point Barnes gushed over Pittman’s desire to get better at Texas.

Flash forward two years and it’s easy to see a lot of Pittman in Ridley. He stands roughly the same height and enrolled at Texas weighing about 310 pounds. Like Pittman, Ridley’s worked hard at changing his body and improving his stamina, footwork and speed.

“Cam has worked really hard at getting himself in shape,” Barnes said earlier this season.

As a freshman, he endured some of the same challenges Pittman faced over his first two seasons. Ridley averaged just 4.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 16 minutes per game. He shot just 46 percent from the floor and an anemic 33 percent from the foul line.

But his sophomore season has been much different. As Brian Davis chronicled in the Austin American-Statesman following Ridley’s solid performance against Kansas State, Texas wants – and needs — to play through its big man. That’s something Barnes has said time and again, as he did following Texas’ win over Depaul, where Ridley scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 31 minutes.

Twenty pounds lighter than he played as a freshman and infinitely more confident, Ridley is clearly enjoying himself, his teammates, and what they’ve accomplished so far. But he’s not settling.

“We are improving in a lot of areas, but still have ways to go to get where we want to be,” Ridley said earlier this season. “We are getting better each game and getting better at practice. We are on the right track.”

Getting on the right track started, Barnes said earlier, with some addition by subtraction. The transfers of Jaylen Bond, Sheldon McLellan and Julien Lewis left Texas shorthanded, and the depth didn’t get help when Myck Kabongo entered the NBA draft and Ioannis Papapetrou signed a pro contract in Greece. But rather than sulk, Texas regrouped thanks to the breath of fresh air provided by the incoming freshman class, Barnes said. No one has benefitted more from the changes than Ridley.

“I think a lot of it has to do with his teammates, that has a lot to do with anybody’s attitude,” Barnes said after Texas beat Texas Tech. “You’re around a group of guys where everyone is pulling the same direction. I think he’d be the first to tell you that when the freshmen came in last year, there wasn’t a lot of leadership. I think they determined that they were going just the opposite for our freshmen this year. Our freshmen have come along a little quicker this year in a lot of ways, because of the leadership those guys have. It started in the spring.”

Then there’s the work Ridley’s put in, not just on his conditioning but his game as well.

“Cam has worked really hard at getting himself in shape,” Barnes said. “Obviously he has worked at the free throw line. Cam can do a lot of things and that’s what I’ve tried to tell him. Cam really can shoot the basketball. He just needs to get his balance and do his work early. I think that’s the next step he’s going to take where he really works hard for his position and that much harder to finish and score the basketball. ”

The hard work has paid off thus far. Ridley’s improved his game markedly. He shoots 58 percent from the floor and 61 percent from the line. He averages 11.3 points and 7.5 rebounds in 25 minutes per game. He’s had five double-doubles this season and has played more than 25 minutes in 11 games, something he accomplished all of four times as a freshman. He leads the team with 46 blocks, one fewer than he managed all of last season.

All of the hard work has Texas on the verge of surpassing its win total from last year, and with much of the season still to play, there’s really no telling how far this team can go.

“They are definitely much more together this year than they were last year,” said Kansas State coach Bruce Weber. “They play really hard. The big guys have improved. They are close to being in the top 25. They are at Baylor next, that will be interesting, but they are capable of winning that match. It is going to be like this all year in this league – hard fought, you have protect home court and find a way to win road games.”

 

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Question for the Fans: How has Cameron Ridley’s performance for the Longhorns this year impress you? Sound off below! 

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