Rodney Terry draws parallel between Chendall Weaver and Tristan Thompson

Despite a push by Oklahoma State during their game with Texas on Saturday, the Longhorns were able to take control and win fairly handily. That was, as head coach Rodney Terry later explained, in large part due to the play of Chendall Weaver.

While praising Chendall Weaver after the game, Rodney Terry went so far as to compare him to NBA star Tristan Thompson.

“Well he picked up that second foul at the end of the first half, so we had to sit him there for about three minutes to go in the first half,” Rodney Terry said. “He’s one of those guys, we had Tristan Thompson here, and we didn’t run one play for Tristan Thompson while he was here in college, and he always reminds me all the time, ‘Coach, you guys didn’t run one play for me.’ But again, he was a guy that impacted the game at a high level without running any plays for him. He made his own way.” 

Thompson, of course, played for the Texas Longhorns for one season before going pro and becoming a lottery pick. Terry saw him up close during that one season, though, having been an assistant for the Longhorns that season.

Now, Rodney Terry is season a lot of the same things in Chendall Weaver that he used to see in Tristan Thompson.

“Chendall does the same thing. We don’t really run any plays for Chendall. We run plays for Max [Abmas]. You know, we run plays for [Dylan] Disu. But we don’t run any plays for Chendall and he impacts the game at a high level, offensively and defensively, and when you have guys like that that can just change the game, with their presence and what they do outside from having their numbers called, that’s a big advantage for you.”

Now a sophomore but in his first season at Texas, Chendall Weaver is playing 18.1 minutes per game with six starts in 29 appearances. In those appearances, Weaver is averaging 6.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 0.8 assists per game.

“He’s played well all conference long. Again, but he did it in non-conference too and he does it every day. He’s one of those guys that, again, I talk about his winning pedigree. He comes from a winning program in high school. That’s all they did was win at a high level and you want guys in your program that come from that kind of background,” Terry concluded.

The Texas Longhorns will be back on the floor on Monday when they will play a tough road game against Baylor.