Texas Longhorns vs. Kansas State Wildcats Basketball Preview

Welcome to (the real) senior day for Jonathan Holmes. Let's take a moment to recognize his accomplishments. In a Texas uniform, he's a 1,000 point scorer (1,117 and counting), the 34th Longhorn to accomplish this feat. Holmes has also grabbed 725 rebounds, which ranks 9th in Texas history (and within shouting distance of Kris Clack's 771). His 104 blocks rank 10th in Texas history.

Holmes was awarded the team MVP last year, is a two-time recipient as the team's Most Improved Player, and likely takes a place on the short list of Rick Barnes' favorite players to ever don Burnt Orange. Thanks for a great career, Mr. Holmes.

The Longhorns end their roller coaster regular season tonight, taking on the Kansas State Wildcats. At 15-15, Bruce Weber's team is playing solely for pride. They're doing a fairly good job at that, having just narrowly offed Kansas and Iowa State in back-to-back home victories.

Texas was lucky enough to catch them in the midst of a 5 game conference slide that knocked the Wildcats out of contention. Leading scorer Marcus Foster (12.9 PPG) was suspended for that game, but is back in the lineup, if not in production (7.6 PPG since returning). Senior swingman Nino Williams is the other consistent scoring threat, but the Wildcats typically rely on an undersized, balanced lineup that prays for a scoring spark from anywhere (i.e., reserve guard Nigel Johnson has scored 37 points in the last two games).

Texas is still in survive and advance mode. Beating Kansas State would put the Longhorns on a two-game winning streak headed into the Big 12 Tournament, where Texas would need to win one more to get to 20 wins.

Starters

PG - Jevon Thomas (6' 0", 185 lb)

G - Marcus Foster (6' 3", 210 lb)

W - Wesley Iwundu (6' 7", 205 lb)

F - Nino Williams (6' 5", 220 lb)

F - Thomas Gipson (6' 7", 265 lb)

Key Reserves

G - Nigel Johnson (6' 1", 185 lb)

G - Justin Edwards (6' 4", 200 lb)

C - Stephen Hurt (6' 11", 265 lb)

Game is on ESPN2, Saturday, 3pm. Hook 'em.