Over the last few press conferences for Texas men’s basketball, there has probably been one word said, or at least emphasized, more than any other — effort.
After its opening conference play with two losses against Mississippi State and Tennessee, head coach Sean Miller challenged his players to play with more effort.
The team must have taken that challenge to heart. Four days after the Tennessee loss, Texas marched into Tuscaloosa, and beat No. 13/12 Alabama and welcomed a then-undefeated No. 10/8 Vanderbilt to an 80-64 win on Wednesday night at the Moody Center. In both games, it was clear the Longhorns were playing harder and had learned their lessons from their defeats.
“You have to forget what happened and now say, ‘I got a brand new opportunity to be better and do things better,’” Miller said.
The effort can be seen with the intensity the Longhorns play with, especially on the defensive end of the court.
Graduate guard Tramon Mark and senior guards Jordan Pope and Chendall Weaver made it hard for both Alabama and Vanderbilt backcourts to operate around the perimeter. The Texas backcourt sticks close to the man they are guarding, moving efficiently around screens to not give the opposition space to take a shot from range.
Against Vanderbilt, Weaver also showed off his athleticism in the paint, grabbing nine rebounds, five offensively and four defensively. Mark also produced two blocks of his own, with his second coming in the final six minutes of the game to keep the Texas lead at 12 — raising the energy within the Moody Center to push the Longhorns to the finish line.
Inside the three-point line, junior forward Dailyn Swain and sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis have also played better defensively. Swain rebounded efficiently against the Commodores, rarely letting a loose ball past him, and equaled Weaver’s team-high nine rebounds.
Vokietaitis and graduate forward Lassina Traore have shown signs of playing a drop-coverage system — once the opponent’s big man sets a screen, they drop off into the paint to protect the rim. This drop-coverage system, paired with the backcourt’s intense defense, forces tougher shots. Three-point shots would often be contested, and there would rarely be a lane for a player to drive through, leaving tougher and farther mid-range shots.
“(Texas) did a good job of forcing us to take mid-range shots and pull-ups,” Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington said. “We’re better than that. We kind of got suckered into that.”
However, Miller is not the only one in the locker room emphasizing and pushing his players to play with intensity.
“(Mark) challenged me this game. He didn’t think I was closing out as hard as I could, and I wasn’t,” Swain said. “It’s a team thing. I appreciate everybody being able to respect each other enough and have enough belief in each other to challenge each other.”
The increase in intensity from the Longhorns elevated their Southeastern Conference record from 0–2 to 2–2, with both wins coming against top-15 teams. Texas will face off against Lone Star Showdown rival Texas A&M on Saturday before hitting the road to take on Kentucky.
However, Mark made sure to clarify that there was still more left to show from the Longhorns.
“Don’t give up on us,” Mark said. “We’re a great team, and we’re still getting better. We’re still not playing our best basketball — best believe that we’re still getting better.”
