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Some days, you get your ass beat. That’s exactly what happened to Texas for the last 30 minutes of their game against Oklahoma State; the defense was poor, the offense was worse, and nobody in burnt orange could hit from three. There’s not much to talk about here, it was pretty stark just how badly Oklahoma State outperformed Texas today. Save for the final five minutes when Oklahoma State went into exhibition mode defensively — and I’m sure Underwood will scream at them for it, because it’s about all he can really complain about — it was a pretty overwhelming performance for the Cowboys. Let’s get this over with.
The Good
Kerwin Roach Jr
It will be lost in the shellacking, but Roach had a good individual game. 13 points on 6-9 shooting, six rebounds, five assists (and only two turnovers), three steals...Roach was about the only player who didn’t have a clear negative aspect to his performance today. His point guard play was...well, it’s what it normally is, an effort with predictable limitations that aren’t getting fixed this year. Credit to Roach though, he came to play today.
Two-Point Shooting
Texas was 29-40 inside the arc. That’s a little “other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln”, but Texas converted when they got in the paint. Once Oklahoma State locked down the driving lanes, the game was effectively over.
Team Effort
This is the participation ribbon of categories, but as has been the case most of this season, Texas didn’t quit when they had every right to pack it in. They kept pushing the ball when the outcome was pretty much assured, giving OSU fans in attendance a couple moments of vague concern. You know, before the Cowboys nailed a couple more threes and reminding everyone who was in charge of the game. It’s a credit to the players and this coaching staff that the team is still willing to invest the energy in this season, given how things have turned out.
The Mixed Bag
Jarrett Allen
Jarrett Allen was a beast the first 10-12 minutes of the game; he was hammering dunks repeatedly, getting rebounds, even snatching steals and running the other way for easy buckets. He looked every bit the NBA lottery pick during that run. So why is he here? 0-7 from the free throw line, that’s why. Allen can be so good in so many ways, and he still went 9-13 from the floor for 18 points and yet another double/double. But man, the rest of the team was 9-11 from the charity stripe. Allen can’t give the team a charlie horse like that if they’re ever going to get a win away from the Drum.
Andrew Jones
If I’m going to put Allen in this category for putting up an 0-fer from the free throw line, I need to put Jones in for going 0-6 from three on the night. Jones had a rough shooting night everywhere except the free throw line, where he went 6-6. If you could combine him and Allen, they put up one fantastic stat line and one terrible stat line.
The Bad
Jacob Young
Young had a couple of good plays after the game was decided, but his minutes in the earlier parts of the second half were pretty brutal. Jacob Young is a collection of appendages that fire out randomly in all directions, hopefully next season those appendages will coalesce into a cohesive human rather than the Tasmanian Devil imitation currently tearing across the court each game. I saw him defending Phil Forte and my eyes got almost as big as Phil Forte’s did. Speaking of..
Everybody Guarding Phil Forte
Davis isn’t quick enough to close out on all the moves Forte has learned to open up slivers of space in his eleven years in Stillwater. Yancy isn’t able to fight through enough screens to stay with Forte. Jacob Young...just, no. Maybe Shaka thought Young’s femur would explode out of his leg into Forte’s face, blinding him for the rest of the game. That’s about the only way Young was going to keep Forte from seeing enough daylight to put up shots. Thankfully for Forte, the game was over in time for him to pick his kids up from high school band practice.
Texas gets a couple of days to lick their wounds before heading back to the 44-million-acre pet cemetery known as Oklahoma for a game against the Sooners on Tuesday. This is Texas’ last best chance for a regular season road win as their other road games are in Morgantown and Lubbock, where Texas Tech just took Kansas to the wire. If Texas wants to get over the hump on the road, Tuesday is vital. Tip is 8 PM CT on ESPN2.
BWG’s writing tunes provided by My Nu Leng.