Texas Men’s Basketball battered by No. 3 Houston 82-61

Physical! Competitive! Intense!

The game was physical. Remember the movie Transformers when the two robots where fighting and throwing each other around in the refinery, or when Andre The Giant and Hulk Hogan fought in the cage, that’s what kind of game this was and Houston won.

In the first half, Texas played smart basketball executing smart passes and got Houston into foul trouble. Two-thirds the way through the first half Houston got physical, real physical, especially on the boards, and at the half Texas was down 40-27.

Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson commented that Dylan DIsu was their main target in the game. They knew they had to stop him and they sort of did. Disu had a team high 16 points and four rebounds. In the first half, Disu had just one foul until things got physical and he would have four by end of the game.

Texas’ sophomore guard #2 Chendall Weaver from Mansfield Texas was his usual self always in attack mode and not afraid of anything, yet in a sportsman kind of way. Weaver scored 11 points, pulled down four defensive rebounds, and recorded a single assist. Weaver is seriously competitive.

That was it for Texas players scoring in double digits. Houston was able to hold Max Abmas to seven points along with Tyrese Hunter who has averaged 11 points a game this season.

Kadin Shedrick scored his season average with seven points along with three blocks, a steal, and a rebound. Shedrick showed intensity in the second half under the boards when he took a pass deep into the paint, faked left then pivoted like a guard would and went up for a layup instead of a 3-4 footer. Brock Cunningham also scored five points, his season average.

By way of comparison, only two players scored in the double digits (Disu and Weaver), versus five players who scored double digits against West Virginia last week (Disu, Mitchell, Weaver, Abmas, and Hunter). Against West Virginia collectively they scored 90 points.

Against Houston, Texas shot 39% (22-57) from the field and lagged in other key metrics. Turnovers by Texas hit 14 and Houston committed eight. Houston scored 19 points on Texas turnovers while Texas only scored four points on Houston turnovers.

Houston won the battle of the boards with 45 total rebounds (28 defensive, 17 offensive) versus Texas 34 total rebounds (22 defensive, 12 offensive). Houston had 14 second chance points to Texas’ seven, 32 points in the paint versus Texas’ 22, 16 fastbreak points compared to seven for Texas.

Tough loss to a strong physical No. 3 Houston.

In postgame coach Terry commented, “We didn’t come out with what we have to do in terms of the physicality. We alluded to it early, you have to adapt [and] adjust the way the game’s being officiated. If they’re going to let them play that way, then you got to play that way. You got to stand your ground. These guys are Elite.”

Our Analysis

No. 3 Houston is an elite team like coach Terry has mentioned. They make you pay for the smallest of mistakes. If you telegraph your pass, they will inevitably intercept it. If your passes are not sharp and to the point, there will be a turn over, and do not try to fastbreak Houston. In the first half when Texas brought the ball down and execute sharp plays with sharp passes, they scored, easily, and the game was close.

When Texas tried to run fastbreaks, Houston answered by taking the ball away. When Texas tried to work their way into the paint, they had one chance and one chance only to score. The physicality of the game was lopsided. Texas is capable of competing with Houston, but not by playing Houston’s physical game.

Texas has a quick turnover with their game match on Feb 19 (Mon) back home at the Moody Center against Kansas State. The game will be televised on ESPN2 with a tipoff at 8pm.