By Colby Gordon
AUSTIN, Texas — Following wins over Kansas State and Oklahoma State, Texas has put itself in a position to climb into the Big 12 race and NCAA Tournament contention with No. 6 Kansas coming to town Saturday.
A win over the Jayhawks (13-3 overall, 3-1 in Big 12 games), the No. 1 team according to the mathematical rankings on kenpom.com, would [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]do wonders for the Longhorns’ résumé.
“Some guys may use that as motivation,” Texas junior guard and leading scorer Matt Coleman III said, “and, yeah, it is Kansas. But you have to look at it as another game because we have 13 games after this. But we understand it’s a home game — that gets you motivated a little bit.”
Things look dramatically different for Texas (12-4 overall, 2-2 in Big 12 games) than they did a week ago.
With a 64-50 win over the Wildcats, in which the Longhorns held K-State scoreless over the first eight minutes of the second half, and a 76-64 win at Oklahoma State, the Longhorns have a newfound confidence heading into the weekend following two performances where an emphasis on ball movement and playing through posts Jericho Sims and Kamaka Hepa paid off.
“It allows us to play to the best of our ability, to show our craft and make it easier for (teammates),” Coleman said. “No matter what team it is, you’re easier to guard when you’re more stagnant. We made it an emphasis going into the K-State game about moving, not standing and playing off each other.”
The Longhorns had arguably their best performance of the season in the win over the Cowboys, shooting more than 48 percent as a team, winning the rebounding battle, 36-31, and five players reaching double figures,
“The last two games have been big for us,” Hepa said. “We’ve been putting in great deposits in practice, and I feel like our carryover from practice to games has been tremendous. I feel like it starts with the leadership we get from (Coleman) and Jase Febres.”
Hepa continued his recent trend of solid play at Oklahoma State, converting 6 of 10 shots from the floor and finishing with 15 points to tie with Febres in leading the team in scoring.
“I think (the recent strong play) is something that’s been building just from the confidence I’m getting from my teammates and my coach,” Hepa said. “I feel like things were open for me and I was able to be aggressive, confident and not focus on mistakes, but focus on the next possession.”
The Jayhawks could be playing without guard Devon Dotson, who suffered a hip pointer injury last week against Baylor and missed KU’s win over Oklahoma.
Dotson is largely regarded as one of the best guards in the Big 12, but Coleman said Texas has to be prepared no matter who KU puts on the floor.
“It’s Kansas,” Coleman said. “When you come to Texas it’s one of the games you look forward to playing no matter who is playing for them. It’s another game and another challenge and the better team with the better players will win that day.”
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