It was another nail-biter for the Longhorns in Waco on Saturday, but the familiar script remained the same. Texas was on the losing end of another game decided by six points or less, coming up just short of a monumental road upset of Baylor. Despite being tied with 2:53 to play and having a shot to tie it again in the final seconds, the Longhorns saw their record in games decided by two possessions or less fall to 0-6 on the season.

Texas was carried by the play of J’Covan Brown, who scored 32 points on 50% shooting from the field, a sharp improvement from the 25.7% mark he posted in the team’s last three games. With Clint Chapman and Myck Kabongo playing limited minutes thanks to foul trouble, the Horns had to have a big game from Brown to even stay in it.

Brown’s one-man show was one-upped by Baylor’s Perry Jones III, who logged a double-double with 22 points and 14 boards. He scored from seemingly everywhere on the court, knocking down mid-range jumpers, drilling turnaround looks, and posting up against the foul-plagued Texas frontcourt. Freshman Quincy Miller, a superstar whose brilliance is oftentimes eclipsed by PJ3, added another 18 points to Baylor’s winning effort.

What looked good

It was imperative that Brown finally break out of his funk and have an efficient game, but it didn’t look like that would be the case in the first half. He scored just four points in the game’s first 15 minutes, with those coming off of a goaltended layup and a pair of free throws. Fortunately, the junior was consistently setting up his teammates to score, logging three assists over that same stretch.

Coming out of the locker room, Brown played like a man possessed. He dropped 20 of his 32 points in the second half, even sinking off-balance looks that likely had the coaching staff sweating. Brown also finally found his stroke from long range, knocking down 4-of-7 from behind the arc after going 0-for-3 in the first half.

In addition to Brown’s second-half surge, the Texas defense played a big role in keeping Baylor at arm’s reach when the Bears tried to pull away. The Longhorns forced 18 Baylor turnovers for a TO rate of 26.3%, which led to 20 Longhorn points. Julien Lewis was the biggest catalyst, logging four steals for Texas.

Jonathan Holmes also had a promising start, but struggled on the defensive end and piled up the fouls. He knocked down a triple and a short jumper just outside the lane in the first few minutes of the game, but managed only one other basket the rest of the way and missed both of his free throw attempts.

What needed work

Those missed free throws were an epidemic for the Longhorns on Saturday afternoon. For a team that had made 92.1% of their free throws in games against Kansas State and Kansas, the timing could not have been worse for a tragic downswing. Texas made only 16 of their 26 attempts against Baylor (61.5%), while the Bears made just under 80% of their attempts. In a game decided by just five points, leaving that many freebies at the line was an absolute killer.

In addition to Holmes’ donut at the line, the Longhorns also had crippling misses from Alexis Wangmene, who went 0-for-2, and Kabongo, who missed half of his eight attempts. Obviously, Texas won’t be able to consistently hit at that incredible 92% clip they reached against the two Kansas schools, but the 61.4% mark over the last two games is very troubling as the team heads down the homestretch of the regular season.

Texas was also scuttled by a very poor performance on the defensive glass. Although Baylor has one of the longest, most athletic frontcourts in the country, the Longhorns hurt themselves with a ton of whistles inside that led to a rotating cast in their own frontcourt. The Bears reclaimed more than 45% of their missed shots, which was the 4th-best mark the team has posted in its 21 games and was well above their season average of 37.3%.

One of those players hampered by foul trouble was Chapman, whose absence once again proved how crucial he is to the team’s success. As it was when Chapman was saddled with fouls in the road loss to Missouri, the Longhorns were abused inside for buckets and boards, giving up 22 points and being outrebounded by a count of 40-28.

While any scouting report worth its salt is going to tell teams to attack Chapman and get him on the bench, the Longhorns will have to find a way to protect their big man. That could mean switching to a zone defense against teams that aren’t automatic from long range, although the Big 12 is full of great three-point shooters. Five of the other nine teams in the league have made more than 36% of their threes so far this season, with Baylor actually cracking the Top 10 nationally with a 40.8% mark. In addition, a zone defense would only exacerbate the problems Texas has had on the defensive glass.

The optimal solution would be for Wangmene and Jaylen Bond to step up when Chapman is unavailable, but so far that outcome seems unlikely. Bond is still a fierce rebounder, and did some good work on the glass against Baylor. Unfortunately, he’s undersized for his position, and it’s caused him to really struggle on defense against bigger teams. Wangmene has also done good work on the boards, but his defense is hit-or-miss and he has problems handling the nice interior passes from Brown and Kabongo on the offensive end.

Coming into Texas’ current six-game stretch against the top teams in the Big 12, most fans had an understandably bleak outlook on the team’s future. The fact that the Longhorns were competitive in each of the first five games offers a ray of hope for the upcoming home games against the heavy hitters of the Big 12. Texas let one slip away against Kansas at the Erwin Center last weekend, but still has the opportunity to take down Missouri, Kansas State, and Baylor at home in coming weeks. If the Longhorns want to keep their 13-year NCAA tournament appearance streak alive, that’s exactly what they will have to do.

Up next: vs. #2/2 Missouri (19-2 overall, 6-2 Big 12); Monday, 8 P.M. CT

They say that you always remember the ones that got away. For the Texas Longhorns, last night’s loss will certainly be one that sticks with them for some time, especially if they are left out of the NCAA field on Selection Sunday. Trailing for much of the game, Texas clawed back into it in the final minutes, aided in no small part by horrendous free-throw shooting by Kansas State. After a furious comeback, Texas found itself down just two points on the final possession before Martavious Irving stripped the ball and the chance for victory away from Myck Kabongo and J’Covan Brown.

Against a bigger, more physical Kansas State team, the Longhorns found themselves in foul trouble quickly. Jonathan Holmes and Jaylen Bond picked up two personals in just a few minutes, and the Longhorns went to a zone to protect their interior players. For the second-straight year, Rodney McGruder made them pay with a pair of clutch threes to spark a first-half run. K-State made 7-of-12 from behind the arc before heading to the locker room, but the Longhorns still managed to keep it within one point at the break.

A nip and tuck second half got away from the Longhorns in the final minutes, as Kansas State rebuilt their lead to seven with just 1:14 left on the clock. The Wildcats missed six of eight free throws over the final 74 seconds, while the Longhorns executed well under pressure to find themselves down just two points with the ball and 20 seconds on the clock. After bringing it across the timeline, Kabongo and Brown tried to execute a dribble handoff beyond the arc, allowing Irving and the Wildcats to ice the game with a steal and McGruder fast-break dunk.

What looked good

For the first time in weeks, freshman Julien Lewis started hot out of the gate. He knocked down his only two shots in the game’s first seven minutes, but spent a majority of his time on the bench thanks to foul trouble. Lewis eventually did foul out of the game, seeing the court for only seven minutes.

While Lewis’ bounceback performance was hampered by the whistle, Sheldon McClellan broke through in a big way. He scored 19 points on the night courtesy of a 7-of-13 shooting line. The only major knock on McClellan’s performance was that he played a bit out of control at times, a rarity for a guy who has been among the best nationally when it comes to protecting the ball. Sheldon had just two turnovers, but there were a few other situations where he and the Longhorns were lucky to retain possession when he was going too fast or drove into a dangerous spot on the floor.

The offensive resurgence for Lewis and McClellan was a welcome change after the pair struggled in the team’s previous four games. Against Iowa State, Oklahoma State, A&M, and Missouri, the two freshmen were just 21-of-78 (26.9%) from the floor. In the losing effort against Kansas State, they combined to shoot 9-of-15 (60%) from the field. While J’Covan Brown has been scoring in bunches, the Longhorns clearly need more scoring options. If Lewis and McClellan can continue to provide that in the coming weeks, the prognosis for Texas will be much sunnier than it was a few days ago.

If Lewis and McClellan can’t keep up their hot shooting, Myck Kabongo could certainly be the team’s second scoring option. Just as he did against Missouri, Kabongo posted a double-double, scoring 14 points to go with 10 assists. Once again, he was aggressive right off the bat, as K-State’s Angel Rodriguez had a very difficult time keeping Myck in front of him. When the help defense tried to cut off Kabongo’s angle to the rim, he consistently found open teammates to set up easy looks or draw fouls.

One of the most-frequent recipients of those assists was Clint Chapman, who finished with 11 points, seven of them coming at the line. When he wasn’t getting the dumpoffs in the lane, Chapman was also doing a good job sealing post defenders to keep the driving lanes open for the Texas guards.

It was also key that Clint kept himself out of foul trouble in this one until late in the game. He spent quite a bit of time on the bench against Missouri, and the team’s post defense suffered without him on the floor in that game. Against Thomas Robinson and Kansas on Saturday, the Longhorns will need Clint to once again avoid the fouls and play big minutes.

Texas also benefited from great free throw shooting to keep themselves in the game. The Longhorns made their first 14 free throws, and finished 19-for-21 on the night. In a game where Kansas State nearly blew the game with a terrible performance at the line, the Longhorns took full advantage of the freebies. Now that Kabongo is attacking with more confidence, the points he and Brown generate at the line will be key to keeping the offense humming.

As the numbers predicted, Texas did also a great job on the offensive glass against Kansas State. The Horns grabbed 46.1% of their misses, and turned those second chances into 11 points. Texas has now posted offensive rebounding percentages of greater than 46% in the last two games, but the Longhorns will find it tough to continue to rebound that well against KU on Saturday.

What needed work

While the offensive rebounding numbers were solid, the defensive numbers were awful. Once again, the stats for the two teams predicted that this would happen, but the Wildcat offensive boards were still daggers in such a close game. What was especially crippling were the three times that Kansas State got the ball back on missed free throws. Twice those second chances came from offensive boards, while the third came in crunch time when the Longhorns simply bobbled the ball out of bounds.

Texas also struggled with turnovers throughout the game, particularly when they dug a huge hole in the first half. The Longhorns lost the ball 16 times on the night, with 10 of those miscues coming in the first half. Those mistakes ended 22.3% of the possessions that Texas had, which is a devastating number in a game decided by just four points.

Some of those turnovers came when the Horns tried to push the tempo and beat the Wildcats in transition, but ended up lofting the ball well over the head of their teammates downcourt. It’s definitely worth going after those easy transition points, but the Texas guards might want to work on their touch in the next few practices so they can be a little more accurate on those full-court passes.

The worst turnover was of course the final one, which erased Texas’ final possession and gave the Wildcats a game-clinching dunk. A big part of the problem was that the Horns were out of timeouts and couldn’t draw up a play, but the guards have to realize that a dribble handoff in that situation brings an extra defender to the ball and eliminates the good spacing that you want on a final iso set. If anything can be taken from that disastrous possession, you have to think Kabongo and Brown won’t make that mistake at the end of any future games.

Unfortunately, it was a rather inefficient night for Brown even beyond that last-second mistake. Kansas State did an excellent job defending him with different guards in an effort to spread out the inevitable fouls they would pick up guarding him. The variety of defenders also served a second purpose, as it seemed to make it tougher for Brown to consistently penetrate. McGruder did solid work defending the Texas guard, but Will Spradling came up particularly huge in the second half, sticking on Brown like a dryer sheet. Without much room to work with, J’Covan shot just 8-of-28, including 4-of-14 from behind the arc.

The big picture

This was a loss that Texas fans could be replaying in their head on Selection Sunday. With the Longhorns hovering right on the bubble in practically every major bracket projection, every single win is big, but road wins against contenders are like résumé gold.

Texas showed great poise in fighting back from a 15-point deficit and again when down seven in the waning minutes, but the Longhorns failed to execute when it mattered most. Unfortunately, when the selection committee sequesters itself in Indianapolis in a few weeks, all they will see on their Nitty Gritty reports is an L next to this game.

Even the most optimistic Longhorn fan probably looked at this difficult six-game stretch on the schedule and hoped for two wins. While moral victories don’t count for much in the grand scheme of things, hopefully the performances in Columbia and Manhattan will give the young Longhorns confidence that they can get revenge at home and split the season series with Missouri and Kansas State.

Up next: vs. #7/7 Kansas (15-3 overall, 5-0 Big 12); Saturday, 3 P.M. CT

The last time Frank Haith met his mentor Rick Barnes on the hardwood, the Longhorns knocked off the Miami Hurricanes in Little Rock and booked a trip to the Sweet 16. The Hurricanes put up a good fight that afternoon at Alltel Arena, but came up just short in the final minutes.

This time around, the Tigers made absolutely certain that Haith earned the victory against his former boss. Missouri shot 54% from the field, including an incredible 73% mark from behind the arc in the first half, and ultimately defeated the Longhorns by 11 in the final conference meeting at Mizzou Arena between the two schools.

Texas found itself in a deep hole in the first half thanks to Mizzou’s superhuman performance from behind the arc, falling behind by as much as 16 late in the half. The Longhorns clawed back, however, slicing the Tiger lead down to just five with a little over nine minutes left in the game.

Seconds later, J’Covan Brown split his lip while committing a foul and headed to the bench. With the Longhorns missing their leader, Missouri’s Phil Pressey took over, scoring seven points in 50 seconds to end any threat of a comeback by Texas.

What looked good

Despite the final outcome, the performance by J’Covan Brown was one of his best as a Longhorn. At times, he still appeared to be bothered by the ankle injury that has dogged him since the Iowa State game on January 4th. Even with that nuisance, Brown posted 34 points in the loss, drilling 6-of-7 from long range while also knocking down all eight free throws. J’Covan has now made his last 19 free throws, a streak stretching back to the end of the first half against Oklahoma State.

Freshman Myck Kabongo also performed well in the loss, logging the first double-double of his short career. Kabongo finished with 12 points and 10 assists, with a majority of his buckets coming on aggressive drives to the basket. There were still some questionable drives where he put himself in a bad situation, but for the most part he was wise about when to attack. That is something that has been an issue for him all season, so hopefully this is a sign that the light bulb is starting to illuminate for the freshman.

Big man Clint Chapman also continued his recent trend of steady performances, although foul trouble dogged him for much of the game. The senior picked up his second personal less than five minutes into the game, and he was relegated to the bench for the remainder of the half. He certainly had his difficulties in this one, bobbling a pair of passes that cost the team possessions, but he did good work on the glass and knocked down a free-throw line jumper without hesitation. There is no question that the team looked better with Chapman on the floor, so he will have to avoid the whistles if the Longhorns want to win against physical teams in the Big 12.

While Chapman did well on the glass, it was actually Jonathan Holmes who led the team with seven rebounds. Alexis Wangmene also grabbed four offensive boards, as the Horns posted excellent rebounding percentages on both ends of the floor. Texas secured 47.1% of their missed shots, the second-best number put up against the Tigers all season long.

When Missouri actually missed shots, Texas also did a good job limiting their second chances, holding the Tigers to just a 28.6% rebounding percentage. That number might not seem impressive against a team playing a four-guard lineup, but the way that Ricardo Ratliffe and Steve Moore were imposing their will in the paint, it was rather surprising to see.

Although it was overshadowed by how well Missouri played, the Longhorns actually had one of their most efficient outings of the season on offense. That number was buoyed by Brown’s dead-eye marksmanship from behind the arc, but Texas still scored 1.135 points per possession, the best performance by a Missouri opponent this year.

What needed work

That offensive efficiency number could have been even more impressive had the Longhorns avoided frustrating turnovers. Texas coughed it up 14 times on the day, ending nearly 22% of their possessions with turnovers. While many came on errant passes, the most frustrating errors were a shot clock violation and five-count that came on back-to-back possessions as Missouri pulled away late in the first half. Texas is going to face teams that are much more talented than them in the next two-plus weeks, so they simply cannot afford to waste possessions.

While the turnovers were frustrating for Longhorn fans, the defense was downright infuriating. Texas came out in a zone, and the Tigers immediately lit them up behind the arc. Even when the Longhorns switched to a man defense, they still elected to go under screens against Flip Pressey. Coming into the game, the younger Pressey was just a 26% shooter from behind the arc, so that decision is hard to fault. Unfortunately, on Saturday afternoon, Flip was possessed by the spirit of J.J. Redick and he killed Texas with three clutch triples. When the Tigers weren’t drilling threes, constant penetration by the guards drew the defense, leaving Ratliffe alone underneath for countless easy buckets.

On the other end of the floor, Julien Lewis followed up his solid performance against Texas A&M with yet another abysmal day from the floor. Lewis was consistently able to find his way to the paint and had excellent elevation above the defense to pop his jump shot. Of course, space and elevation only go so far when you knock down just 1-of-10 from the floor.

Lewis started hot out of the gate for the Longhorns this season, scoring 18 in his debut against Boston University. He’s shown the ability to score in bunches, but at this point, it’s painfully clear that he is a very streaky player. In games where he has taken at least five shots, Julien has posted a shooting percentage above 35% just five times. Nine times he has been below that mark, including three that were below 15%. If Lewis hits some of his early shots in future games, give him the green light. But when he comes out cold, he has to realize it’s not his night and defer to teammates.

Texas also struggled converting some really easy looks, missing at the rim on multiple occasions in the first half. Sheldon McClellan failed to finish on two different fast-break opportunities, which only fueled the Mizzou Arena crowd and added to the Tiger momentum. Easy points are few and far between in conference play, so the Longhorns have to make those opportunities count.

The big picture

In the grand scheme of things, this loss isn’t a killer. We’ve repeatedly discussed just how brutal this three-week stretch of the schedule will be for Texas. The Longhorns still need to add a few quality wins to the résumé before Selection Sunday, and yesterday’s performance should at least give their fans some hope that perhaps they could spring an upset on the Tigers in the rematch at the Erwin Center on January 30th.

Texas still must beat Iowa State at home on January 24th, and would benefit from stealing another win or two in their upcoming games against K-State, Kansas, Baylor, and Missouri. The sky is not falling yet, but the Longhorns will have to surprise someone in the near future to feel more comfortable about their tournament chances.

Up next: at #18/18 Kansas State (12-4 overall, 1-3 Big 12)

For two unranked teams with just one combined win in four conference games, there was a lot on the line for Texas and A&M on Wednesday night at the Erwin Center. The Longhorns desperately needed a win before starting a brutal six-game stretch, while the Aggies were reeling and needed a victory to simply stop the bleeding. Add in the approaching end to the 95-year basketball rivalry between the two schools, and you end up with a number of interesting subplots adding a great deal of gravity to the game.

With all that to play for, the game still turned out to be very ugly. The Longhorns made just two field goals in the first ten minutes of the game, yet managed to hold a lead for much of the first half. Although it wasn’t pretty, a true team effort for the young Horns added up to a key victory over A&M on Wednesday night. Not only did it provide Texas with a crucial league win in a season where the team will be sweating the bubble, but it also ensured that the Longhorns would hold on to their nine-game home winning streak over their in-state rivals as the series goes dormant next year.

The first twenty minutes of basketball were downright difficult to watch. The Aggies successfully slowed the pace of the game, which ended with just 61 possessions. With fewer scoring opportunities, the missed shots were even more noticeable. J’Covan Brown was still gimpy as he recovered from an ankle injury suffered a week earlier, while Myck Kabongo spent more than half the game on the bench with foul trouble. His two early fouls were especially infuriating for Longhorn fans, as they both came right after he had turned the ball over. With a thin bench, the freshman will have to learn not to compound his mistakes by committing frustration fouls.

Without the two facilitators kick-starting the offense, Texas really struggled. A&M hedged hard on ball screens, forcing the limping Brown to try to start sets 30 feet from the rim. While the Texas defense kept things close throughout the first half, a true team effort on offense put the Horns in a position to win. Sheldon McClellan would attack the rim or make a big play, then Julien Lewis would step up a few possessions later. Jonathan Holmes even ripped down a few big rebounds despite only seeing the court for 14 minutes.

The Longhorns also got some big minutes in the second half from their pair of much-maligned big men. Both Alexis Wangmene and Clint Chapman logged clutch blocks as the Longhorns went on a second-half run, with each swat coming in help situations on the other forward’s man.

Wangmene only played 19 minutes, but had an old-fashioned three-point play that swung the momentum in the second half. Chapman, meanwhile, finished with 11 points, seven boards, and picked up two charges. He knocked down a midrange jumper and had another one pop out after going halfway down. While these two guys are never going to be on the level of the bigs from Kansas or Baylor, Chapman’s strong recent efforts and Wangmene’s flashes of solid play are something to be optimistic about early in the conference slate.

Despite his injury, J’Covan Brown also had an excellent game. He couldn’t blow past defenders thanks to the sore ankle, but he simply played smart basketball. He had his first three shots blocked, but then adjusted his approach and managed to finish with 16 points. Brown used the hesitation dribble to perfection in the second half, probing the defense, waiting for their reaction, and then reading it before attacking again or finding a teammate. On a night where he shot just 16.7% from the field, J’Covan earned ten trips to the line and made every single free throw.

With Brown unable to create good looks for himself, he put his teammates in a position to score. The junior finished with six assists, but easily could have cracked double digits if it weren’t for bobbled passes and the constant fouls down low when he would find someone open. Two of Brown’s most impressive plays came on passes well away from the basket. On the first, he found McClellan for an alley-oop when he was standing closer to half court than the perimeter. The second came as Texas was putting on a second-half surge, when Brown shot a laser pass from the backcourt to find an open Chapman for a dunk in transition.

The Longhorns also finally had another great game from freshman Julien Lewis, who has had a very streaky season. He led the team with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including a perfect 3-for-3 mark behind the arc. In his five games prior to the A&M one, Lewis was just 22% from the field and 16.7% from the field. To add insult to injury, he also crunched his hand in a car door in the middle of his slump, forcing him to miss the New Year’s Eve game against Rice. If Lewis can stay hot, the Longhorns might surprise someone and pull off an upset during this tough three-week stretch.

The one consistent storyline this season has been the team’s pursuit of a 14th-consecutive NCAA bid. Rick Barnes and the Longhorns have been a March Madness staple, one of only six teams who have made the field in each of the last 13 seasons, but that streak is in jeopardy this year. Texas failed to build a solid résumé in non-conference play, blowing games against Oregon State and N.C. State in New Jersey. A win over UCLA in Los Angeles has lost its luster thanks to the disappointing season for the Bruins, but Texas’ home win over Temple at least gives them one quality victory.

That weak non-conference profile means that Texas will have to make a case by winning games in a tough Big 12. If you consider 20 wins the magic number for NCAA inclusion — and even that is no guarantee — the Longhorns must win 10 games in a Big 12 where every team is competitive, even a rebuilding Texas Tech program. Wednesday night’s win over A&M isn’t going to steal any headlines or punch a ticket to the Big Dance, but in a season where the Longhorns will be counting every single W, it was one they simply had to have.

Up next: at #9/9 Missouri (15-1 overall, 2-1 Big 12); 12 P.M. CT, Saturday

Heading into Saturday night’s match-up against Oklahoma State, the Texas Longhorns had never lost a home conference opener since the arrival of Rick Barnes on the 40 Acres, boasting a perfect 13-0 mark in those games. Of course, the Longhorns had also never struggled to a 30% shooting percentage in any of those games, either. Texas earned that ignominious distinction on Saturday night against Oklahoma State, but still managed to keep their perfect record intact, knocking off the Cowboys by a 58-49 count.

Texas missed its first eight shots from the field, and headed to the locker room having made just 21.2% of its shots. J’Covan Brown was a ghost offensively in the first half, as the ankle injury he suffered against Iowa State on Wednesday night was clearly bothering him. Despite that, the Longhorns were able to keep pace with the Cowboys thanks to excellent defensive rebounding and a stingy defense that constantly forced Oklahoma State into mistakes.

What looked good

Although Brown was hobbled by the ankle injury and finished with just six points, his performance was huge. In the first half, he came up with a basket-saving block after losing his man on a backdoor cut. Minutes later, he stripped the ball right out of Markel Brown‘s hands just after the Cowboy had secured a defensive rebound. Those kinds of heady, hustle plays defined Brown’s night.

Still noticeably limping throughout the game, Brown didn’t force anything. He attempted just five shots from the field, and all but one were good looks. His first bucket of the game didn’t come until 31 minutes into it, but it was a clutch three that put the Longhorns ahead with 8:41 to play. J’Covan found space on the wings in transition and spotted up for a nice feed by Myck Kabongo.

Jaylen Bond also made a big difference without piling up the points. He intercepted two Oklahoma State passes, and swiped another ball to notch a career-high with three steals. As always, he was tenacious on the glass, leading the Longhorns with nine rebounds in his 22 minutes. His defensive rebounding mark for the season climbed to 21.6%, putting him just outside the top 100 nationally.

Another freshman who worked hard on the glass was Jonathan Holmes, who grabbed only four rebounds off of the bench, but turned every single one of them into points. All of his boards came on the offensive glass, and he went up strong after each one, logging two buckets and drawing two fouls. All told, those four offensive rebounds turned into seven key points for the Longhorns.

The frontcourt didn’t just shine on the glass, as Alexis Wangmene was pretty much the only Longhorn who could make a shot in the early going. He knocked down a jumper from the free-throw line, and had an excellent run in transition for an old-fashioned three-point play. Although the senior was limited to just 14 minutes, his early work on the offensive end kept the Longhorns from getting into a deep hole in the first half.

The other thing that kept Texas from getting too far behind was stifling defense that forced 21 Oklahoma State turnovers. The Cowboys coughed it up on 31.8% of their possessions, by far their worst performance of the season. Texas forced travels, drew charges, and frequently jumped the passing lanes, constantly frustrating the visiting Pokes.

The Longhorns also kept Oklahoma State from getting too many offensive rebounds, allowing the Cowboys to reclaim just 28.1% of their shots. The one troubling thing in this department was that when the Horns did give up the board, it often led to very easy putbacks or nasty dunks by Michael Cobbins.

The big story of the game, however, was the solid showing by Kabongo. The freshman has certainly had his growing pains this season, and the last few weeks have been especially hard. Against the Cowboys, he made some great passes and finished with six assists against just one turnover. Had the Longhorns actually been knocking down shots, Kabongo likely would have even cracked double-digits in assists.

Where he did crack that double-digit barrier was points, as Kabongo’s aggressive play led to twelve trips to the line and a final total of 15 points. Myck has had trouble attacking inside in recent games, so it was certainly a confidence-booster for him to find success against Oklahoma State. There’s no doubt that these next three opponents will make things a little tougher for the freshman guard, but last night was a long-awaited step in the right direction.

What needed work

The obvious problem for Texas on Saturday night was an inability to knock down shots. The good thing is that the Longhorns were actually getting pretty good looks, even without a healthy Brown available to create with penetration. On a typical night, many of those shots would go down for Texas, so it was huge for the Longhorns to grind out a victory despite the ice-cold shooting.

Sheldon McClellan and Julien Lewis each had a second-consecutive rough outing, combining to go just 6-for-26 from the field. Against Iowa State, the pair was 4-of-19, giving them a field goal percentage of only 22.2% in their last two games. With Brown still injured and his effectiveness in question for Wednesday night’s game, the Longhorns desperately need these two freshmen to bounce back quickly.

Texas also left quite a few points at the free throw line, something which fortunately did not come back to haunt them in a close game. The Longhorns made just 65.5% of their free throws, well off the team’s season average of 71.5%. Bond missed both of his free throws, while Kabongo managed to sink just 67% of his attempts at the line. The Horns also lost a potential point when one of Wangmene’s foul shots was taken away thanks to a lane violation by Brown.

All things considered, the Longhorns were fortunate to earn a win. On a night where the team would shoot just 30% and get only six points and 26 minutes from J’Covan Brown, a victory would seem like a pipe dream. But the resolve shown by this young team — even against a scuttling Oklahoma State squad — is a great building block for the future. The Longhorns defended well, worked hard on the glass, and finally proved to themselves that they could win when things got tough.

Up next: vs. Texas A&M (9-5 overall, 0-2 Big 12); Wednesday, 8 P.M. CT