Game Thoughts: No. 6 Texas tops Oklahoma State, 56-46, in first game of post-Chris Beard era

Four days after playing in (and losing) a 116-103 track meet at home to K-State, the Longhorns (13-2, 2-1) showed off their mettle and hung strong in a *ahem* slower (read: UGLY) 56-46 win in Stillwater over a Cowboys (9-6, 1-2) team playing without starting center Moussa Cisse.

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Normally, both teams combining to score less than either of the teams scored in the last game would be a bit of a letdown.

Not so, however, as the Longhorns desperately needed this win to get back on track in a wildly competitive Big 12 where all of KU, TCU, ISU and KSU are off to hot starts that appear sustainable​.

To the Thoughts!

• Have to start on the defensive end. After struggling over and over against the Wildcats to keep dribble penetration out of the lane, the tables turned as the Longhorns were especially effective against Anderson, Thompson and Asberry off the bounce. Hunter, who struggled through an off shooting night (who among them, amirite?), was excellent, in particular (which has generally been the case this season) but the Longhorns also got very good initial ball defense from Rice, Allen, Carr and even Morris. Teams with awesome point guards will give everybody problems, Texas clearly included, but short of that, this Longhorn team can really make life difficult on opposing offenses even getting into their sets. Nowhere was that more obvious than an over 10 minute stretch lasting from the end of the first half and into the second where OSU made 0 field goals.

• The turnovers for both teams made for a game that was as choppy as it was competitive. Usually if Texas turns over a team 18 times, as they did today, it would lead to a bunch of fast break points and the kind of up tempo affair the Longhorns have been utilizing so effectively this year. Except it didn’t work that way in this game. While OSU doesn’t have Texas’ skill or depth (more on both later), they are super athletic and were obviously hellbent on keeping Texas in a lower possession game. It almost worked, too, but the Cowboys just couldn’t string together enough made shots to make Texas pay for offensive struggles of their own.

• Of all the back and forth stats that are proof positive of the close game this was (Texas had more rebounds, OSU had more assists… Texas had more steals, OSU had more blocks…Texas had more points in the paint, OSU shot better from three…etc.) the biggest stat line that cemented the game for the Horns was their shooting from the foul line where Texas connected on 81% of their free throws versus the Cowboys only hitting on 57% of theirs. That kind of marksmanship can cover some other ails and it was huge in creating the cushion Texas needed.

• How nails were those two threes by Brock Cunningham? With the rest of his teammates mired in a 3-16 muck from deep, Brock not only rose and fired with confidence, but did so in huge fashion to extend Texas’ late lead to seven points, a deficit OSU would never recover from. Of course he did the rest of his usual Brock goodness (intelligent defense, ball movement, getting deflections, reaching in to create more possessions), but between him and Mitchell’s 12 rebounds, Texas’ big wings were crucial to getting the W.

• I remain unconvinced of Carr’s or Allen’s ability to be high level creators off the dribble. The ball simply stops too often when both guys have it in a playmaking role. What’s more, the fewer reps for Hunter seemed to have disrupted his comfort level as well. I’ve written about this before, but teams that can hang with Texas athletically, and there are plenty of them in this conference, put a bit of fear in me with those two so responsible for playmaking.

In typical fashion for the Big 12, the Longhorns now need to get ready to host both TCU (Wednesday) and Texas Tech (Saturday) in the hopes of getting to 4-1 out of the gates.

Hard to call the third game of the conference season a must win, but this definitely qualifies as an important victory as the Longhorns hope to keep pace with other Big 12 leaders.