Game Thoughts: Texas tops NC State on the road, 63-59

Phew! Not exactly a beauty of a game, but Texas will take the road win over a Power Five team and be happy for it.

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On to the thoughts!

• What a start to the game. Great energy on defense. Great confidence shooting the basketball and attacking the paint. Early 9-0 lead was big in their first true road game. Love what this team does when they have all of Tramon Mark, Tre Johnson and Arthur Kaluma on the floor.

• Not sure what the defensive gameplan was with coming with the strongside double team late after the post catch. Texas got burned over and over by that look in the first half. It got a bit better in the second, but that’s not a blueprint that I’m all that fond of, defensively.

• Speaking of defensive things I’m not crazy about, good guards from opposing teams are going to hunt Kadin Shedrick on switches and, if the early part of the season is any indication, they are right to do it. Shedrick brings length and hustle, but his lack of foot speed is a problem as he doesn’t stay with the ball handler well enough off the bounce and he doesn’t contest well on step backs. Kind of a “meh” game from Shedrick in this one and two defensive rebounds in 33 minutes is garbage.

• Surprising struggles from Texas’ ball handlers against a somewhat showy-but-not-all-that-actually-tough pressure defense. While 12 turnovers isn’t a huge number, it was the nature of the turnovers (namely that many of them were silly, and almost, unforced) that was problematic. Basically whenever NC State was able to make runs, they came off of poor turnovers by UT.

• Johnson may get the accolades (and more about him in a bit) but big time game ball from me to Kaluma in this one. His rebounding (15) and clutch free throws (I know they weren’t super late, but still…big) will get him some positive remarks but his defense was also solid all night (and would look even better if not for some very tough two-point makes by Wolfpack players). He’s been a huge net positive for Texas this year.

• On the one hand, no bench points from anybody other than Chendall Weaver is a tough look. On the other, to win that game in a reasonably tough environment is a great outcome. Julian Larry is a way better player than he showed tonight on both ends and I actually thought Ze’Rik Onyema gave decent minutes (he’s, arguably, the biggest victim of Texas’ point guard mediocrity when it’s there), but Texas’ solid depth will need to be more solid than they showed tonight.

• Mark and Weaver are winning basketball players. Feels like Jordan Pope is making his way towards being one, too, but maybe not just yet. I remain optimistic about this squad as a whole.

• Johnson’s run of big shots early on this season continued in a big way with the three pointer that put Texas up for good in this one. His supreme confidence is just a salve for a Texas team that often lacks elite playmaking from its lead guards. He’ll suffer through some frustrating hiccups (the broadcast did a thoughtful job of pointing out his skill as opposed to elite athleticism) but he’ll also fire Texas into games they probably don’t really belong in. Exciting player with a plenty solid supporting cast around him.

The Endgame

A month ago, I wrote about this year being at the mercy of its point guards and Shedrick. I remain convinced of that concept.

To this point, both of those spots (point guard and center) have been the relatively weakest spots for UT, but it’s not like they’ve been terrible.

In fact, I’m probably a bit more convinced that Texas’ can get to .500 (or slightly above) in the SEC than I even was then (which should give them plenty of breathing room come the end of the season).

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But that’s a story for another time.