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Shaka Smart, Texas Basketball Impressing In Year One
Shaka Smart and Texas basketball are ahead of schedule and improving every day.
February 12, 2016
Shaka Smart and Texas basketball are ahead of schedule and improving every day.
This isn’t the way Shaka Smart likes to play.
It’s not quite like that at Texas, at least not yet.
But it will be someday.
For now, Smart is using the tools at his disposal, the ones that don’t quite score at the same clip as some of his Rams teams but still are setting the foundation for a brighter future. Texas is still putting up 72 points a game, and guard Isaiah Taylor is dropping in 15.4 points and handing out 4.9 assists a game. Those are solid numbers, but for the Longhorns to find consistency, Smart knows he’s going to need time.
“We’ve just got to learn and get better,” Smart said after Texas’ 63-60 loss to Oklahoma earlier this week. “But what we’re not going to do is come out of here and drop our heads and feel sorry for ourselves, because in this conference, nobody cares if you feel sorry for yourself. No one’s going to join you in that pity party.”
In that loss to the Sooners, Texas forced just 10 Oklahoma turnovers. It was an OK effort, as we holding OU to just 63 points. For the season, Texas has forced an average of 12.8 turnovers a game and held teams to just 66.4 points. The Longhorns also lead the Big 12 in opponent field goal percentage, allowing opponents to just 39.6 percent from the floor.
But inconsistency has been a killer. It’s what led Texas to give up 82 points in a loss to Texas Tech in January. It’s what led Texas to give up 84 points in a loss to Texas A&M in November. It’s what led Texas to score just 57 points in a 58-57 loss to TCU Jan. 9 that allowed the Aggies to win a game in the series for the first time in more than 20 years.
That loss to TCU, however, was followed up by an impressive 94-91 win over Iowa State in which the defense went out the window but the offense cranked up. Since that win, Texas has won six of eight, and the two losses have come at Kansas and at Oklahoma.
Not shabby.
Now the rematch vs. the Cyclones awaits, and the Longhorns’ defense seems to be in the groove. Texas has held opponents under 60 points in four of the last five games, and OU only scored three more than that magic 60 mark. When Texas holds opponents under 60, the Longhorns are 11-1 this year—the one loss being that TCU defeat.
Keeping ISU under 60 will be nigh impossible, but there’s no question Smart’s guys are feeling more pride on the defensive end as they hit the stretch run, and Smart is feeling at least a bit better about that end of the floor.
“I thought our guys did a good job coming out and playing with aggressiveness,” Smart said after the OU loss. We played extremely hard. On the defensive end we got some stops. We pressed a diamond press, which is really high risk/high reward when you’re playing a great shooting team like Oklahoma. I think we were able to get some stops out of it, so by and large, it was good for us. As the game settled in, I thought both teams did a really good job defensively, and that’s why it was such a low scoring game.”
In other words, things are getting better, but it’s not quite up to Smart’s standard. That will only come with time and personnel that is better suited for what Smart likes to do on the court.
For the time being, Smart is trying to put his guys in a position to be successful, and he has the Longhorns close to locking in a spot in the NCAA Tournament. A win over Iowa State Saturday could do just that. The same goes with opportunities vs. West Virginia, Baylor, Oklahoma and Kansas coming up, all in Austin.
Sweeping those games won’t be easy, and Smart will take wins any way he can. But as his team gets more comfortable on defense, the Longhorns could start winning the way Smart likes.
