This season is being viewed as a key for Shaka Smart’s tenure at Texas. His seat is widely believed to be hot, or at least warm, fresh off an NIT title last season. His run there has been just okay, and that’s not what is desired in Austin, even though football will always trump the hardwood. And if this season is going to have the kind of results needed to extend his time, a good result in a game like Saturday’s trip to West Lafayette is necessary.
So as the Longhorns leave town with a 70-66 win over Purdue, they do so with a lot of positives, and not just a 2-0 record. It’s the first road win over a ranked opponent under Smart.
Texas got off to an early lead, but that dissipated quickly and Purdue led by three at the half. The Boilermakers were 6-11 from long range in the first half, but the Longhorns adjusted from there as the Boilermakers only got off five shots from deep in the latter frame. Meanwhile, Texas held steady at the offensive end but got better from deep.
The bigger win in this is how the Longhorns did it mentally. When Purdue went on a 7-0 run to take a 62-57 lead with 3:14 left, it would have been easy to think this might be a fatal blow. It might have knocked them back once more, and a time they wouldn’t recover.
But recover they did, as they went on a 9-0 run highlighted by a three-pointer by Jase Febres to take the lead for good with 1:25 left. They made four more free throws in the final 10 seconds to total six in the final 21 seconds to seal a much-needed win.
Texas will have other opportunities for quality wins in non-conference play, but this appears to be the sure big one. They take on Georgetown at the 2K Empire Classic and could get Duke in the second game, but getting to play the Blue Devils is not a given, and they travel to Providence before Christmas and get LSU in Austin in the Big 12/SEC Challenge in January. They also take on Texas A&M in Fort Worth, but the Aggies appear to be rebuilding, making the rivalry aspect the only real motivator for that one.
Matt Coleman III was the star with 22 points on 7-9 shooting, including 4-5 from long range, and handed out seven assists with just one turnover. Gerald Liddell, a key in the frontcourt, had 14 and eight rebounds in his first collegiate start.
The Longhorns have a long way to go, as Smart said after the game, but Saturday night’s win is big. It’s a quality win on the road, they showed some mental toughness they haven’t always had and especially at the defensive end. Big 12 play has been a real challenge for even the best teams Smart has had in Austin, and that looms later. But this is the best start they could have hoped for in the first week, and they have a good building block leading toward their next challenge in New York in a week and a half.
Side Dishes
Seton Hall handled Stony Brook 74-57, but there’s something more important for the Pirates: the health of star guard Myles Powell. About four minutes in, the senior sprained his left ankle, and head coach Kevin Willard said it may be more serious than your typical sprain, implying that he won’t just miss a game or two. That may also be some caution on their end, as they won’t want to bring him back too soon and have a limited version of him all season if possible. The schedule doesn’t get easier, as they scheduled aggressively just like last year. Michigan State is up next in the Gavitt Games, then a trip to Saint Louis, and a little later they have Oregon, a trip to Iowa State and a visit from Maryland.
The Pac-12 continued its solid start towards a resurgence with Stanford (70-54 over Cal State Fullerton) and Oregon (a 106-75 romp over Boise State) picking up wins on Saturday and Oregon State getting the best one, an 80-74 win over Iowa State. Thus far, the only loss by a conference school was Arizona State’s loss to Colorado in China. Oregon has knocked off two good Mountain West schools thus far.
Also picking up nice wins were Maryland, who pulled away from visiting Rhode Island 73-55; College of Charleston, who held off Georgia State 84-80; Hofstra, who used a 34-4 run to take out Monmouth 94-74; La Salle, 70-64 winners over Iona in overtime; San Diego State, who edged old Mountain West rival BYU 76-71 in Provo; Dayton, who got 29 points and 12 rebounds from Obi Toppin to beat Indiana State 86-81; and Oklahoma, 71-62 winners over Minnesota in Sioux Falls;
What a difference a few days makes: after beating Florida State in their opener on Wednesday, Pittsburgh lost to Nicholls 75-70 as the Colonels shot 11-24 from long range and forced 21 Panther turnovers. Also, if the season-opening loss to UC Riverside wasn’t reason enough to think this will be a season to forget in Lincoln, then Saturday’s 79-78 loss to Southern Utah in double overtime is a bigger sign that Fred Hoiberg’s first season at Nebraska doesn’t look too good.
Saturday was quite a day for extra sessions, as a few games needed more than five extra minutes to determine a winner. Besides the aforementioned Southern Utah-Nebraska tilt, South Dakota State edged CSU Bakersfield 93-91 in double overtime in the first game of the Summit League/WAC Challenge. The crown jewel of the day, though, was Western Michigan taking out Milwaukee 115-100 in triple overtime, led by 34 points from Michael Flowers.
Tonight’s Menu
The slate is lighter, but we’re getting better matchups overall on all fronts.
- A couple of interesting matchups get the day going, starting with Boston College at USF and Wyoming at South Carolina tipping at noon, then Florida State travels to arch-rival Florida (1 p.m.)
- In the final day at the Sunshine Slam in Kissimmee, Florida, Southern Illinois takes on Oakland (1 p.m.), then Delaware takes on UTSA (3:30 p.m.)
- Matchups that will fly under the radar both tip at 2 p.m. with Vermont at Bucknell and Saint Joseph’s at Old Dominion.
- There are a few games with mid-majors going on the road to high-majors that could get interesting, such as Colgate at Clemson (3 p.m.), James Madison at Virginia (6 p.m.) and UC Santa Barbara at UCLA (7 p.m.)
- The best matchup of the day comes later as Arizona hosts Illinois (9 p.m.)
- The Rainbow Classic finishes up with Florida A&M playing Pacific (7:30 p.m.) and South Dakota taking on Hawaii (10 p.m.)
