Rodney Terry praises continued progress from Arterio Morris

Texas freshman Arterio Morris is a foundational piece of the future for Texas hoops. The former top-40 recruit flashed in a few non-conference games for the Longhorns this season — highlighted by a 25-point performance against NCAA Tournament-bound Louisiana back in December. Since that outburst, Morris hasn’t scored even half of that total in a single game and averaged just 2.9 points in conference play while shooting under 40%.

The slow-down in Big 12 play didn’t stop head coach Rodney Terry from playing Morris through the struggles. In fact, he played Arterio 14 minutes or more in all three Big 12 Tournament games en route to Texas’ title victory and even made some huge plays in the Kansas game. Per Terry, Morris is developing as a player, even if the numbers aren’t very impressive.

“He’s a guy that’s continued to develop over the season,” Terry said of Morris after the Big 12 title win over Kansas. “He’s played with older players this year that have done a great job really spending time with him, sharing their experiences that they have had at this level. I think his work ethic has gone to another level perform.”

For Morris, Terry isn’t expecting stardom or even consistent contribution. He just wants him ready when his number is called, which is going to happen at some point or another if the Longhorns make the deep postseason run that they’re expecting.

“The thing I tried to echo to him throughout the course of the season is just keep working. There is going to come a meaningful time throughout the course of the season, in postseason play where you’re going to have to step up and play big for us, and significant minutes for us, and he had a chance to do that in this tournament.”

One thing Rodney Terry has never had to question with the freshman guard is his focus.

“Give him a lot of credit for staying the course. So many times when you have a young player that has a chance to be really, really good in the future, they get caught up in the distractions and listening to other people. I think he’s done a great job down the stretch of blocking the outside noise and just working and staying the course. I give him a lot of credit for doing that.”

Arterio Morris has a very bright future and perhaps he’ll show why this month.