Texas guard Andrew Jones wearing hand wrap after non-basketball injury

Texas guard Andrew Jones is wearing a hand wrap on Saturday against Kansas, but not because of an on-court injury. According to the ESPN broadcast, the senior suffered a dog bite which required medical attention earlier this week and is currently playing through pain.

The tape is wrapped around Andrew Jones’ right hand along the knuckles where the dog bite occurred. He has been seen flexing his hand around the tape several times after staff members cleaned the wound and prepared it for him to play.

Texas is in an important battle with Kansas on the road which will not impact the Big 12 standings but could impact which seed both teams land on Selection Sunday in just eight days.

Jones started the game just 1-for-3 from the field and 0-for-1 from the 3-point line with the only make coming on a floater through the lane. He did go 2-for-2 at the free throw line late to reach four points and added three rebounds in the first half.

Chris Beard send message to Texas players

Texas head coach Chris Beard pushed his team to strive past their ceiling just one week ahead of the Big 12 Tournament.

“We’re all going to have to find another level to win in March,” Beard said Thursday. “That’s what March is.”

The Big 12 is a three-team race for first place heading into the final weekend of regular-season college basketball — Texas is not in that conversation. The Longhorns (10-7 Big 12) are three games back from first place and are locked into the four-seed spot heading into the postseason. Kansas and Texas Tech trail defending national champions Baylor by 0.5 games and 1.0 games, respectively.

Three of Texas’ last five games (including Saturday’s game against Kansas) have been against those top three. With chances to jump ahead in the standings, the Longhorns couldn’t finish under pressure and fell to both Texas Tech and Baylor to keep them out of contention for a regular-season conference title. While they did beat TCU and West Virginia in consecutive games during the same stretch, those Quadrant 1 wins were mandatory for Texas’ image come selection Sunday.

The Longhorns struggled offensively during Feb. 19th’s game against Texas Tech. Texas shot 28.3% from the field, and 30.8% from three-point range. After entering halftime with the game knotted up at 28-28, Texas only mustered 27 points in the second half, falling to the Red Raiders 61-55.