Following three straight wins to close out the regular season, Texas Basketball snuck in as a 3 seed in the Big 12 tournament over 4th seed West Virginia on the last day of regular season play. Clinching that seed ended up making a big difference and paid off for the Longhorns.
Texas opened up their Big 12 tournament run against Texas Tech in a nailbiter of a win to move on to the semi-finals to face Kansas, so they thought. Until following a positive covid result for one of their players which resulted in the Jayhawks pulling out of the Big 12 tournament.
After bypassing the semifinals they faced off against an Oklahoma State team in the final that was just as hot as Texas was entering that game. The Longhorns pulled off the win by a score of 91 – 86 and clinched the school’s first-ever Big 12 tournament championship.
1. Shaka Smarts ready to make another magical run
Shaka Smart makes his 3rd NCAA tournament appearance as the Texas head coach. Smart hasn’t won a tournament game with the Longhorns yet going 0-2 but this is definitely the best team he’s had in Austin.
We all know what he’s capable of getting out of his players in the postseason and we saw it last week. His 2011 VCU team didn’t win any conference titles that year but still went on to win 5 straight in the dance before losing to Butler in the final four.
2. A win by DQ is still a win and it’s a big one
With Kansas having to pull out of the Big 12 tournament ahead of their semifinal game against Texas, this only created an advantage for the Longhorns. Getting a night off in the middle of two games was crucial for having more late-game stamina in the final over Oklahoma State who was playing for the third night in a row.
Texas earned their spot in the final for beating a tough Texas Tech team and then knocked off a really good Pokes team to win a conference tournament in two games. Oklahoma State had to beat West Virginia and top-seeded Baylor to make the final but having one more game than Texas slowed the team down initially and looked to prevent them from completing their comeback in the second half.
The Longhorns had two very tough games but still a shorter road to a Big 12 Championship. You can’t say the night off wasn’t a factor. You also can’t say this one counts any less than any other conference championship.
Makes you wonder what would’ve happened if Texas ended up with the 4 seed and had to play Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals instead.