NCAA Basketball: Kansas State, Providence on the rise on latest top 25 power ranking
By Joey Loose
10. Texas (13-2)
Clarity has finally come for the Longhorns, as the program announced Chris Beard’s firing earlier this week. We’ll table discussions for the future of this program because there’s still a lot of talent on this roster. This team can do some damage this season and has looked great at times this year, dating back to a big win over Gonzaga right at the beginning of the season. This week, however, was quite the roller coaster.
Somehow, someway, Texas gave up 116 points at home to Kansas State in one of their worst defensive performances in recent memory. The Longhorns had plenty of offensive fireworks of their own in the 116-103 loss, shooting 51% from the field and getting 29 points from Tyrese Hunter and 27 from Marcus Carr. Order was restored over the weekend as the Longhorns got a 56-46 road win over a pesky Oklahoma State squad. This time the defense was key and was electric, while Carr had 12 points and Dillon Mitchell collected 12 rebounds.
It was the ultimate Jekyll and Hyde performance from this Texas squad, giving up 116 and 46 points in two separate games in one week. Which of these Longhorns teams are we going to see moving forward? Based on their play this season, it’s like their performance against Kansas State was an aberration, but there are significant challenges ahead in a very tough Big 12. Fortunately, they’ll stay home in Austin next week with games against TCU and Texas Tech.