Rodney Terry shares how difficult defending LJ Cryer was

On Saturday, the Texas Longhorns beat soundly on the road by the No. 3 ranked Houston Cougars. The Longhorns struggled with their defense on the night, giving up 40 and 42 points, respectively, in each half. And in terms of individual performances, Houston guard L.J. Cryer put together a performance that Texas fans surely want to forget.

Cryer was the game’s leading scorer with 26 points in the Cougars’ 82-61 victory. After the game, in the postgame press conference, Texas head coach Rodney Terry explained how difficult it was for his players to keep the Houston guard contained.

“Yeah, he’s one of those guys that we know, obviously, being in this league for a number of years with him, that’s going to shoot the ball extremely well, especially at home,” said Terry. “You can’t give him any open looks.”

“He’s a guy that’s a shotmaker. They need his threes. And with second-chance points on the kickout, you can’t give those up. He played well today; he shot the ball extremely well. And when he’s playing at that level and making baskets for them, then they are extremely difficult to deal with.”

Cryer did most of his damage from the field, connecting on nine of his thirteen shot attempts, and was a smoking hot 6-9 from beyond the ark. Outside of Cryer, Texas did an admirable job limiting the Houston players from range as the rest of the team finished 2-14 from three.

Saturday’s loss to Houston was a melody of struggles for the Longhorns populating all at once. The Cougars were able to outrebound the Longhorns, 45-34. Arguably, the most gut-wrenching part of Texas being outrebounded by Houston lies in who the leading rebounder for the game was. It was none other than the Cougars’ 6-foot-1 senior guard Jamal Snead who finished the game with a double-double consisting of 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Houston also forced Texas into committing 14 turnovers while being credited for 13 steals. On top of that, the Texas offense struggled in the game, shooting just 38.6 percent from the field and 33 percent from beyond the ark.

With the loss, Texas falls to 16-9 on the season and 5-7 in the Big 12. More so than that, it keeps Texas on the NCAA men’s championship tournament bubble, with a dwindling amount of opportunities to showcase why the Longhorns should be a part of this year’s field of 68.