Chris Beard sends message to team ahead of postseason

Texas head coach Chris Beard pushed his team to strive past their ceiling just one week ahead of the Big 12 Tournament. Before they get there, however, the challenges have already begun with a date in Lawrence, Kansas to take on the No. 6 Jayhawks in the regular-season finale.

“We’re all going to have to find another level to win in March,” Beard said Thursday. “That’s what March is.”

The Big 12 is a three-team race for first place heading into the final weekend of regular-season college basketball — Texas is not in that conversation. The Longhorns (10-7 Big 12) are three games back from first place and are locked into the four-seed spot heading into the postseason. Kansas and Texas Tech trail defending national champions Baylor by 0.5 games and 1.0 games, respectively.

Three of Texas’ last five games (including Saturday’s game against Kansas) have been against those top three. With chances to jump ahead in the standings, the Longhorns couldn’t finish under pressure and fell to both Texas Tech and Baylor to keep them out of contention for a regular-season conference title. While they did beat TCU and West Virginia in consecutive games during the same stretch, those Quadrant 1 wins were mandatory for Texas’ image come selection Sunday.

The Longhorns struggled offensively during Feb. 19th’s game against Texas Tech. Texas shot 28.3% from the field, and 30.8% from three-point range. After entering halftime with the game knotted up at 28-28, Texas only mustered 27 points in the second half, falling to the Red Raiders 61-55.

Texas guard Marcus Carr specifically saw some serious offensive struggles in the loss. Carr played 33 minutes in the Texas loss, but he was held without any points. He shot 0-6 from the field, including 0-3 from beyond the arc. 

“Well I think we just – our hearts are in the right place. We’re trying to make plays, but sometimes you got to move the ball a little bit more than normal and let the game come to you,” Beard said at the time.

A little over a week after, Texas hosted the Bears and even took a 30-27 lead into halftime, but was outscored 41-31 in the second half and ultimately fell 68-61.

Texas still has a chance to play spoiler as they look to upset Kansas on the road and rob them of a potential Big 12 regular-season championship berth. You can catch tip-off between No. 21 Texas vs. No. 6 Kansas this Saturday, March 5 at 4 p.m. ET live on ESPN.