Rodney Terry explains difficulty of quick turn-arounds in Big 12 schedule

After a Saturday night loss on the road to the Houston Cougars, the Texas Longhorns had a quick turnaround, missing the Kansas State Wildcats on Wednesday night. A quick turnaround like this allows for very little prep time for the next opponent. But in the eyes of Texas head coach Rodney Terry, things could be worse.

“I’ll say that at least we’ve had those at home this year,” said Terry. “Last year, we had a Saturday game on the road [against a] top ten team [and] a Monday game on the road [against a] top ten team. [I’ve] never had that happen in 14 years of Big 12 play. But to have an opportunity to go on the road and come back home, the way it’s supposed to be; it’s what we do this time of year. It’s no different than preparing yourself for the NCAA tournament. You have a one-day prep, one-day turnaround, and it’s on to another really good opponent.”

Terry’s experience in the Big 12 and in the men’s NCAA championship tournament helped sell the Longhorns at home as they were able to knock off the Wildcats 62-56.

With the win, Texas improved to 17-9 on the year and 6-7 in the Big 12 conference. Not only that, but it keeps the Longhorns’ postseason hopes alive as they are one of the teams on bubble watch this year.

As Terry continued, he highlighted the responsibilities of his players, along with himself and the coaching staff, when it comes to quick turnaround games.

“I think in those situations, guys have to really lock into the details, really lock into the gameplan. You watch a lot of tapes, and then instead of going bone-on-bone practice, you got to be able to walk through things and situations for you guys to be able to see it the next day and manage it the following day as well. But it’s a quick turnaround,” Terry said.

“You gotta be locked into personnel. This time of year, we’re all gonna go out to action. We’re going to know what they’re doing, what they’re running; they’re going to know more running. Now it’s going to get down to personnel, who you’re guarding, and then trying to put your will on them in terms of closing out possessions with physical blockouts and no second chance opportunities.”

For the Longhorns’ head coach, this time of year is less about schemes and more about good-on-good-quality play. As Terry pointed out, you typically know what to expect from your conference foes, and now it is about executing better and more consistently than them in order to pick up the win. And to Terry, that all starts on the defensive end with physical play and quality rebounding.