Texas Longhorns basketball produces startling early season stat

The Texas Longhorns basketball team simply hasn’t delivered in its biggest games so far this season. A 79-70 loss to the Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday was no different.

After the Longhorns fell to ISU on the road to drop to 13-4, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello tweeted a telling stat. Texas is 0-4 in Quad 1 games this season, something that could have a big impact on its NCAA Tournament resume.

Since 2018, the NCAA Tournament selection committee has used four RPI quadrants to determine the quality of wins and losses. Quad 1 opponents are considered the highest level of competition, with Quad 4 being the lowest. A game is considered Quad 1 if it meets the following criteria: home contest against RPI top 30 opponent, neutral site against RPI top 50, or away game against RPI top 75.

Thankfully, the Longhorns have yet to suffer what is considered a “bad loss” by the selection committee’s standards. However, their lack of “good wins” could result in receiving a lower seed than they’re hoping for. So far Texas has lost to Gonzaga, Seton Hall, Oklahoma State and Iowa State. Its best win came at home against Stanford on Dec. 19.

The Longhorns are in their first year under coach Chris Beard, who spent the past five seasons leading Texas Tech. He brought in several high-profile transfers to fill in the gaps during his first year in Austin. That includes leading scorer and rebounder Timmy Allen, who came from Utah.

Although the Texas Longhorns basketball team hasn’t fared well against Quad 1 teams so far, the season isn’t over yet. Texas still has five games left on its schedule against teams inside the RPI top 30 schools. That includes road games against Kansas, Baylor and West Virginia.

In the meantime, the Longhorns turn their attention to Kansas State, which they will face at 8:30 p.m. ET Tuesday in Austin.