Rodney Terry emphasizes the importance of winning the final four minutes

On Tuesday, the Texas Longhorns beat the Oklahoma State Cowboys at home by a convincing score of 89-75. However, for Longhorns head coach Rodney Terry the win was not convincing enough. In the postgame press conference, Terry emphasized his squad’s need to win the final four minutes of the half and play Texas basketball.

“The emphasis in that, I think you’re talking about the last four minutes there, we needed to win the four minutes. We needed to close the half out the right way,” said Terry. “It’s so important that teams learn to start to have the right way and end the half the right way. And we needed to really sit down and get some stops.

“I think to that point, we only had maybe two times in the course of that first half where we got consecutive stops; three in a row. We needed to try to win it on the defensive end and we needed to try to come down and earn baskets the right way to close out that half. We were in the bonus and had a chance to get to the foul line as well. So, we needed to play Texas basketball.”

The Longhorns’ offense remained high, scoring 40 or more in both halves. However, their defense struggled a bit in the second half, allowing 43 points. The Horns allowed forward Kalib Boone and guard John-Michael Wright to score 18 points apiece for the Cowboys. Texas will need to clean up their defense and last four minutes efficiently and quickly in preparation for the next game. The Longhorns’ next matchup will be a top ten belt in the SEC/Big 12 showdown when they head to Knoxville, TN, to take on the Tennessee Volunteers.

Terry discusses importance of winning rebounding battle

Terry knew heading into Tuesday’s game between his Texas team and Oklahoma State that rebounding was going to be a major key of the game.

He proved to right. The Longhorns outrebounded the Cowboys 41-27 in Austin, Texas, on their way to an 89-75 victory.

Texas also grabbed 14 offensive rebounds, leading to 16 second-chance points.

“It was a big emphasis going into the ballgame,” Terry said in the press conference after the final buzzer. “Their an elite level rebounding team. They did a great job on the class up there. We did a good job today though. We had 12 offensive rebounds at their place and ended up with 14 tonight.”