One theme of the 2014-2015 season has been the dramatic underachievement from a handful of teams across the country, even if all of them are for different reasons. In the case of Rick Barnes’ Texas Longhorns, the reasons for their struggles are many.
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First, playing in the Big 12 Conference is an arduous task for anyone, no matter the talent that you have. Put Kansas, Iowa State or Texas in the Pac-12, and I’d be surprised to see them with more than two or three losses thus far. The Big has been a gauntlet for teams this year with road trips to Ames, Morgantown, Lawrence, Waco, Stillwater, Norman and even Manhattan. Texas’ 17-9, 6-7 record can certainly be attributed to the brutal schedule that they’ve had to play against.
There are, however, other reasons for their inconsistency. Guards Isaiah Taylor and Javan Felix haven’t proved to be reliable enough options for UT to string together three or more wins in a row, something they’ve only done once since Dec. 20, 2014. They also haven’t beaten a conference foe with a winning record since Jan. 17, when they hosted West Virginia.
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With four of their final five games against ranked opponents, with two of them being on the road, Texas needs Cameron Ridley, Myles Turner and Jonathan Holmes to step things up and provide toughness defensively, and also match up favorably against front courts like Kansas, Baylor and Iowa State on the offensive end. They are talented enough to do it, but it may be up to Barnes to see whether or not the Longhorns trust them enough to do it.
