Rodney Terry shares importance of getting gritty win vs. Oklahoma State

Rodney Terry had a lot to be proud of after Texas’ 56-46 win at Oklahoma State over the weekend. After the controversial week their program had endured, the Longhorns went into Stillwater and survived several pushes from the Cowboys to take the victory in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

During his postgame press conference, Terry applauded the grit of his players. He said that’s what they had focused on all week long. They knew the more tenacious team was going to come out on top in that specific game.

“We said that we needed to have a gritty team today,” said Terry. “The team that was gonna come in and play the hardest today and really try to max out defensively was going to have the chance to win this game today.”

The win was impressive considering the Longhorns got the job done after scoring what was easily their season-low in points. Beyond that, it was even more so considering they allowed just 46 points to a conference opponent after giving up a wild 116 points to Kansas State in their previous outing.

Terry believes the time of the game had a lot to do with why his team was ready to roll. They were prepped, prepared, and knew that getting stops was going to be the key for them to get to show off their speed in transition to score easy buckets.

“We practice every day at 11 o’clock. So our bodies were revved up and ready to go at this time already,” said Terry. “Again, we’ve had some very spirited workouts. Our last two practices have been incredible in terms of guys getting back to the basics and understanding that we’ve got to sit down and guard.”

“We’re still gonna try to play with some pace on offense,” Terry said. “I think we’re a fast team, an athletic team. We want to get up and down the floor. But we have to be able to get stops to be able to do that.”

Texas is finding its identity again with the in-season switch from Chris Beard to Rodney Terry. With that in mind, a win like this is massive. It shows the Longhorns are learning to win regardless of the scenario or how the game is being played.