Evan and JC sit down and chat about the end of this basketball season, what Texas needs to do, and their March Madness outlook.

Hosted by Evan Vieth and Jacob Campos. Edited by Jacob Campos. Music by BlueDot Sessions. The full transcript can be found below:

Jacob Campos: Hi and welcome welcome welcome back to Texan Overtime presented by The Daily Texan Audio Department. I am Jacob Campos and sitting on my left hand side is none other than the one and only Mr. Evan Vieth. 

Evan: Texas basketball had a rough show in the past week of play, losing two away games to ranked opponents Baylor and TCU. Longhorns looked completely outmatched versus Baylor losing nine points and give up nine threes on nearly 50% three point shooting. The team was out rebounded yet again. 37-25 and 4 out of 9 rotation players for UT went scoreless, just can’t happen. TCU’s game was much closer, finishing pretty thrilling 75-73 loss. But the Longhorns were once again out rebounded and shot by the number 22 team in the country. JC, what went wrong this week for Texas? And what are the implications for the Big 12 tournament?

JC: I mean, what went wrong was everything. Yeah, this week, we had spoken so highly. Throughout the past few weeks, Evan and I have followed this team pretty in depth since January, basically since Big 12 play started. We’ve been just in on Texas basketball. And we were thinking that, you know, after the win against Iowa State, what was that, two weekends ago, we had high expectations for this team. And we had high hopes for this team. And we were thinking if this team wins two of the last three games, they are very well competing tomorrow for a Big 12 title. And then what happened? They show up, they go on this hot streak against Baylor. And they look so good. They go up like 10 very early in the first half. And that made me nervous. I was like, I don’t like where this is going.

Evan: They’re doing too good in the first half. 

JC: Then we proceeded to give up 52 points. Yeah, 52 points in a 20 minute half of college basketball. That can’t happen. That’s inexcusable. It’s the same thing. It’s when we lost a K-State and our first baseball game of the year, we gave up like 15-45, it sounds kind of situation. They were shot very well. Should we 50% from the field goal 47% from the three and 70, 76% from the three point line. However, you know, that’s manageable. But I personally believe the reason why we are not winning these games is due to our rebounding. Because Baylor outrebounded us by 12. In TCU, outrebounded us by 11. That’s not good. And when the tallest player on your team was, what 6’9″? 

Evan: I believe so, Dillon Mitchell.

JC: 6’9″ and Dillon Mitchell. And who’s also a freshman. So you know.

Evan: And a power forward really, not a true center.

JC: He’s still working to put on a little bit of weight as well. You’re gonna get bodied, and you’re gonna get demolished. And I kind of expect the same thing to happen tomorrow against the big men of Kansas. I think that they’re, they could potentially have a field day with us getting offensive rebounds, just kicking out to the corner, kicking out to the wings. Texas basketball, until they fix his height issue, I don’t feel as good as I did two weeks ago, heading to the Big 12 tournament. Now I think when this team is on their A game. And we’ll talk more about that because we need Marcus Carr to come back to Marcus Carr in a second. We’ll get to that. But I think when this team is on their A game, they are a top, I’d say, six team in the country. When they’re rolling…

Evan: They can beat pretty much any team. 

JC: They have proven I mean, if you beat Gonzaga on their second game of the season, beat Creighton a week earlier or a week later. They’ve beat all the Big 12 teams except Kansas, I believe. 

Evan: Yeah, I mean, there’s one more game for Kansas to happen.

JC: And they’ve will potentially if, depending on how they do against Kansas, could potentially get a share of second place for what is probably one of the best conferences in college basketball for the last 20 years. I think I would say in my opinion, arguably the best conference in college basketball. 

Evan: Yeah, it’s hard to pick one that’s been better than this Big 12 team. And I like all that you said. And one important thing about this Baylor game also is that Keyonte George, Baylor’s best player, star freshman, was out after the first six minutes of play. They were playing without him for basically the whole game. And a lot of players stepped up for Baylor which you have to give props to. I mean, Love who’s a freshman out of nowhere off the bench dropped two threes for them, 11 points. Bonner had 13. They let the bench get a little too ahead of Texas. And then when Thamba and Bridges are out, they’re just way out rebounding the big men of Texas. It’s a problem. And Allen had nine which is great, but like you said our big men were not rebounding. A combined four rebounds between Disu and Bishop, all four them coming from Disu. So that was quite quite a rough part of the weekend. And the Baylor game was definitely the tougher game for Longhorns, the game that felt like they should have been able to win but didn’t, and TCU, just a close game at a court, at away court that, you know, a few shots go Texas’s way, they probably win that game. But I was really more annoyed at this Baylor game and you mentioned it a little bit that I just have to bring up. I mean, Marcus Carr has been pretty slumping in the last two games and that’s something that just can’t happen for a Texas team that relies so much on Carr. He’s a great player, undeniably, one of the top four players in the Big 12. But he shot 7 of 26 over the last three games, four for 18 from three. He’s just thrown up a lot of three balls and they’re not really falling and they’re not good shots. He only had, what, a combined, I believe it was 21 points those two games, which isn’t bad, but…

JC: But Carr’s averaging usually 17 points the last month. 

Evan: Yes, exactly so that’s just not what you expect. That’s a game for him usually. And when you’re shooting that inefficiently as a team’s best player, you’re bound to lose some basketball games, which is unfortunate. And Jabari Rice has been good, not great. Tyrese Hunter has been better, which is good. He’s shooting more efficiently. I think he had about, what was it, 30 combined points over the last two games like 27, something around that 28. And he’s been good. Just nothing crazy, which is the problem is that we haven’t had anyone really step up in these past two games. And that’s kind of what this Texas team usually needs is that one player to come in and, you know, drop 23 points, drop 24, take a lot of shots but make them efficiently. And they haven’t had that the last two games and that’s been probably the biggest problem alongside the rebounding.

JC: Yeah. And I think the one guy I’m along with Marcus Carr, the one I’m a little bit wondering like where’s he at? What’s going on with Jabari Rice, you know? Like I will say, 16 points against TCU is very impressive coming off the bench. But even coming off the bench, you’re getting starter minutes. Yeah, Dillon Mitchell gets 10 minutes a game, Jabari Rice gets 31 minutes a game. Random question for you, then if that’s the case, do we see Dillon Mitchell somehow making his way just out of the rotation entirely once the Big 12 tournament gets going?

Evan: There’s no reason to cut him out of the rotation. I mean, Terry’s have been very strict about this nine man for pretty much the whole year. If anyone’s cut it’s Arterio Morris, just because of the good guard that this team has. And but it’s not gonna be Mitchell, Mitchell does bring stuff to the team. It’s just he rarely gets shot, I mean, three combined shots over the last two games. That’s not something you want from a starter, but he’s not going to get cut out of the rotation. But it is something to think about, especially against Kansas, where he matches up a little bit worse than your average team. I mean, he’s already not had much impact. If he’s gonna be the one that has to guard Jalen Wilson early and Wilson’s gonna be on him, he already struggles with scoring. I don’t think that’s going to get even better against Kansas. And we’ll talk a little more about Kansas. I also want to know what you think about with Disu’s performance against Baylor because he had 24, statistically looked very good. But even off air, you’ve kind of said you weren’t a big fan of the second half in particular. 

JC: Well, no, because Disu got really hot, I want to…I will really, I just need to check. He had something like 13 points in the first half, it was a very large number. And he got going early. In the very beginning of the game he, I believe he had hit like three threes on like his first six shots. It was just an obscene number like that, which you’re always gonna love.

Evan: Well, three for four.

JC:  And that’s fantastic. But that’s not going to get it done the entire game. And I knew that wasn’t going to work, because then, and I saw it happen and it made me nervous, about 15 minutes left in the game, Texas goes up early, because they’re hidden to three. And then what do they do, they get away from what they play, which is, you know, at times it’s going to be Carr bringing up the court, slowing it down. And Carr’s gonna just dribble dribble, dribble for 10, 20 seconds, two passes will be made, it’s going to make its way back to Carr and then to Disu or Carr is going to get a mid range jumper. They got away from the mid range jumper. And they honestly, they got away from the transition game a little bit, because I think Texas has been very good this year in transition. They’re very good about forcing up the ball and forcing up a basket. 

Evan: They forced turnovers as well. 

JC: Exactly. And you know, when this team is out in the open, they can score, but rather than go for the basket, they just had so much confidence going from Disu’s hot start that they kept going into the corners, and they kept go into the wing threes. And what happened? You kept missing, you kept shooting. It’s just, I want to take the two rather than the three. Which I know is not a popular opinion in basketball anymore these days. But if I’m going down the court full speed, there’s one guy in front of me. Am I gonna throw it to the wing or am I trying to go for two and potentially getting an one? That’s kind of where I’m coming from.

Evan: I mean, the Texas shot 17 more threes and their two opponents this week. So it’s obvious that they are throwing up probably too many. Especially against Baylor who is the team in the Big 12 that throws up threes and you still shot eight more than they did, only made one more though. That was pretty tragic. Also Baylor getting the line a lot more, 29 free throws for them, making 22; Texas only getting there 12 times and making eight. Worse percentage and a lot fewer shots were made. I mean 22 of Baylor’s points coming from the line shows the Texas defense wasn’t struggling that much giving up 81 points, but also that you got to be able to stop a team if they’re going to the line that much and they really weren’t. They weren’t there with their main scoring threat and their main attacker in George. He’s the guy that you expect to really attack the ribbon and go at a big guy like Disu or like Dillon Mitchell. Jaylen Bridges was there and he drew four fouls, but most of them just came from everyone contributing, you know, four here four there. They had eight free throws attempts, excuse me, but in general way too many free throws given up. And like you said, this mid range game is the team strength, I mean Carr and Allen, probably two of the top 20 mid range shooters in the country. I don’t have a specific stat, but I have seen some stats on Twitter about it. And this Texas team shoots better from mid range than most teams and they have two of the best mid range shooters just straight up on their team. So you need to, like go towards that strength. Allen has been good, but he’s not taking as many shots and that’s been a problem for him for this year. It’s finding shots he wants. Sometimes he just needs to take the ball and say, ‘Hey, give me an isolation, let me get hot’, because sometimes he will miss those shots. But when he makes them, he usually gets into a rhythm and that’s really what he needs. And he is not the kind of guy who can just, you know, have two here, have two here, have two here and score a 15 point game. He is a player that wants to score eight in a seven possession span. And he’s good at that. But he hasn’t been getting those recently. And I think he needs to get more into the rhythm in this especially Kansas game where I think this would be the game for him to start really, really going crazy.

JC: You think that for Allen? 

Evan: Yeah I think this is gonna be an Allen game.

JC: I think I need a Christian Bishop game this week too. 

Evan: I mean, we can, you know, I think we can transition to it. 

JC: And also I checked it was Disu had 14 against Baylor first half.

Evan: 14. Yeah, and one important thing is that this was also officially Texas losing out on the Big 12 title share. They were coming into the weekend with a chance to get it with two wins, I believe. And now they’re completely, Kansas has officially gotten it, no team can come close. Texas is in a two, three way tie with Baylor and Kansas State for the second place spot. But I believe they’re fourth seed right now because of their win-losses and the tiebreakers that they have in the Big 12…

JC: Correct.

Evan: So either way, Longhorns still in a good spot, but a win against Kansas would be very big in my opinion.

JC: I mean, I think a win against Kansas is all that matters at this point. Because what are you really playing for? The Big 12 Tournament is what five, six days out from starting? We’re just a few days away from the Big 12 tourney starting. So when you’re playing for this point isn’t even pride. It’s just confidence. And you need some sort of mental, because if you go into the Big 12 tournament in fourth place, it’s going to be a struggle. And I think one thing that helps is one, the wins keep proceeding. Not only does this potentially move you ahead of Baylor and K State depending how their games go this weekend. You have to feel good, because this is our last chance to go the Moody Center. You know, this is our last chance in the Moody Center this year, where Texas has only lost once this year. But Kansas, far and away the best team in the Big 12. They have just a deep Big 12 talent experience. They have a deep Big 12 team, especially Jalen Wilson, who leads the conference in points per game and rebounds per game. He’s as good as it gets. And just a deep rotation of their top seven players. And I’m not gonna lie, this team is not road warriors, but we’ve known about this team this whole season. This team does play different in the Moody. But what’s the Moody Center gonna be like? And what are you feeling like tomorrow, Evan?

Evan: I think the Moody Center is going to be pretty packed. I think fans will understand this is the last game of the season to go to, big opponent. Everyone knows Kansas is the team you want to beat in the Big 12. And you’re saying hey, listen, three o’clock on a Saturday, come out, show your support. We’re going to have a lot of students there and that’s going to really help the team that has only lost one time at the Moody Center, which is important to note. They just win games at home and that is something that the crowd gets behind them, Timmy Allen’s great at pumping up the crowd, Marcus Carr really feeds off the crowd. I think every time he scores about 30 points, it’s because he just starts getting hot and the crowd’s all behind him. But like you said this Kansas team is super super good. Jalen Wilson is the best player in the Big 12 and he will just drop 20 like it’s nothing. You’ll kind of forget that he’s there. And then suddenly, oh, he’s scored 20 of the team’s 60 points. That’s interesting. Dajuan Harris is one of the best passers in the Big 12. Kevin McCullar Jr. is their Brock Cunningham, but better. They just have some really really good players on this team. And listen, Brock, we’ve been praising him a lot. Two games. It’s the same style of play, great defender, scrappy hits and shots. Gradey Dick is I think statistically one of the best shooters in the entire country. So that’s another player to really look out for and that’s the kind of guy that the fans are really gonna have to start jeering on…

JC: I mean 40% from the three, 80% from the free throw. 

Evan: I mean, he’s just such a pure shooter and he’s gonna be a top 15 pick in the NBA, but if I had to get a full guess what’s going to happen? I do think Texas wins this game. I’m confident that this is a game they win. Something that is funny that I wanted to note about this Texas Longhorns team is that the last three games they’ve scored 72, 72 and 73 points. Before that Oklahoma game where they scored 85, they scored 74 points. So Texas has just been around 70 to 75 points a lot recently. I think that’s going to happen again, but their defense will show up. 75-69 score for Texas is my prediction. It’s really a low scoring game, but I think it’s gonna be a lot of Timmy Allen, a lot of Marcus Carr, riding off those two. And Kansas is a beatable team. This is not a team that is impossible to beat. They came fairly close when Kansas was at home and Allen Fieldhouse is very, very hard to play against. And like you said, for seeding, this one could be huge if Baylor, Kansas State lose a game because if you’re the three seed, you’d be playing a team like Iowa State, or Oklahoma State, depending on how last games go. And I always say without Caleb Grill, Oklahoma State and not the best team. Texas, if they were to lose and stay as the fourth seed, would play TCU in the first round of the tournament, or second round. It would be, that’s a big difference in my opinion,

JC: Especially because, I don’t know if you remember this, but last year, Texas played TCU in the first round of the Big 12 tournament, and I want to say we blew a 17 point lead. I want to say it was 17 or 19 points, but it was ugly. That’s all I remember. And it ended pretty quick. Last year. That was just round one. Texas quick bounce. Didn’t look good. Now you’re right, I like that you pointed out that 88-80 loss because for that, that was the third Big 12 game in seven days. They’d beat Baylor on Monday night than they had gone and they upset K State by three at the time. So at the time, it was a huge upset, one of Texas’ big signature wins of the season and then held a very respectful eight points. Um I don’t, I don’t think it’s gonna happen. I don’t feel good about this Longhorns team. Because I’m having problems thinking that if Marcus Carr and Tyrese Hunter can coexist at the same time, because it really seems like it’s always gonna be one or the other. That’s what makes me worried. I’m gonna say Texas keeps it competitive though, because the Moody Center is the second or third hardest play to play in the Big 12. Allen Fieldhouse one. And then Texas Tech is probably two or Moody Center, one of the two but probably Texas Tech. You said 75-69. Let’s do 83-75.

Evan: Wow, high scoring.

JC: 83-75 Kansas. 

Evan: Yeah, we’re still keeping to the theme of 75 or under for the Texas team.

JC: Oh, easily. Yeah, no, for sure. I’m taking…

Evan: This team last year scored 60 in that game against TCU after being up 18 at that half…

JC: I was close.

Evan: You were, that’s what you were talking about and it was a completely different team. I will say a lot less scoring on that team, Marcus Carr was pretty non existent. But that, TCU is not a team that you lose to last year and just lost you this year that you want to be facing the tournament. So a win could be big to go from playing against the TCU team to play against Oklahoma State or Iowa State which I would much prefer.

JC:  Oh, absolutely. And I think it’s important, you know, that loss of Caleb Grill for Iowa State is gonna hurt. 

Evan: Probably their best player. I’m not sure what people think about that. But he was, when playing, it was either him or Jaron Holmes, in my opinion, and that’s huge to lose a guy like Grill so that’s better for Texas for sure.

JC: Yeah, so I mean we’ll get those results back next week. And then we’ll be able to talk Big 12 next week as well. But that tournament, coming up quick and March Madness is sooner than we would like it to be.

Evan: It’s already March.

JC: It’s already March, it’s already a little bit mad. Texas just right now surviving to keep their spot as a potential two seed in the round of 64. That’s what we’re fighting for right now. And hopefully tomorrow, I don’t want them to lose but hopefully my other guys remember what they’re fighting for. Yeah.

Evan: For The Daily Texan, I’ve been Evan Vieth. 

JC: I’m Jacob Campos. 

Evan: Thank you so much for listening, have a good day.