Shooting From the Corner, Northern Colorado, San Jose State (2-0)
Micro Level, Northern Colorado (W, 62-49)
Ball Pressure
When you have a length advantage, a size advantage, and a speed advantage, putting 3/4-court pressure on the ball is a relatively risk-free proposition. Texas fought over screens and denied passing lanes against a smaller and slower team, and it resulted in 12 first-half turnovers to snuff out any hopes the Bears might have had of keeping this game close.
Bishop, Mitchell, & Allen Channeling Their Inner Timme
Northern Colorado only has one starter with size similar to Texas’ frontcourt, so Texas (correctly) posted up over and over near the basket to get some shots near the basket. There’s no real need to over-complicate the gameplan when you have a sizeable (/rimshot) mismatch, go at them down low and make them stop you. Kur Jongkuch did what he could and he won a couple of times, but Texas had a house advantage and played it.
Free Throws
Texas was 7-7 from the line when I wrote this headline then they missed their next four, so obviously it was my fault. Marcus Carr and Bishop each went 0-2 from the line to drag the average down, but at least they didn’t airball any of them like Jonkuch did.
Northern Colorado Won the Second Half
LHN sold the Gonzaga loss with a “Texas won the second half” graphic, so I guess we’re doing this now. The Bears were already winning the second half before the Texas walk-ons & Jaylon Tyson appeared, and clearing the Texas bench only exacerbated it. It doesn’t matter, the game wasn’t in doubt.
Micro Level, San Jose State (W, 79-45)
The Attendance
I’m sure Texas is going to announce an attendance of like 10,000 people (EDIT: they announced 11,088) but there were plenty of second-row seats available. I’m not bitching at the fans here, it’s a dogshit opponent and they shouldn’t show up; I’m bitching (again) at Beard for scheduling dogshit opponents. If you want north of 3k fans in the stands (especially with students heading out for Thanksgiving) then schedule somebody with a pulse.
Courtney Ramey
Even against subpar opposition, Ramey is coming to play. He is reliably either getting to his spot or getting to the rim, his economy of motion is like a veteran boxer. No player is perfect and Ramey has missed an assignment or two along the way, but he’s been a pretty clear net-positive for this team so far this year.
Unidentifiable Player
I don’t know why this tickles me, but Synergy has a player on the team who I can only guess is some combination of Tristen Licon & others.
I need an ‘Unidentifiable Player’ #100 jersey, please.
Macro Level
These Games Suck
It’s fair to say that these games being boring is a good signal, if they were exciting then Texas would be in a world of shit come conference play. Still, Texas played about 8 minutes of competitive basketball out of 80 available; it’s boring TV and I’m not exactly overflowing with notes and lessons learned watching Texas take a baseball bat to a senior citizen in a wheelchair.
Marcus Carr
Carr seems like he’s not comfortable with this system, or at least he’s not totally sure what to do so he’s deferring to others. That translates to a high assist rate, but it has also led to a high turnover rate. His TO rate is currently 23.4, which is nearly double last year’s TO rate and almost as high as his freshman year. If he plays like this against Seton Hall, Texas could be in trouble.
Timmy Allen
Allen has been a terror for lesser opponents because they either don’t have the size or the agility to keep him out of the paint. He did some of this against Gonzaga in the second half, he’ll need to keep doing it going forward as well. It didn’t stop Beard from screaming at him in the second half when Texas was up by 26 because Beard gonna Beard. Allen said after the game Beard was getting after him for not doing enough on the defensive end. Okay.
Jaylon Tyson
He didn’t see the floor against San Jose State despite it being a blowout; it might not be anything, but it’s worth monitoring to see if his minutes disappear going forward. If he’s not getting minutes with Disu out of the lineup, he stands to have even less when Disu is healthy.
Upcoming Games:
THE REST OF THE ABE LEMONS CLASSIC, Y’ALL WHEEEEEEE!
Wednesday, November 24th: vs Cal Baptist 7:30 PM CT (LHN)
Monday, November 29th: vs Sam Houston State 7:30 PM CT (LHN)
Please remember to check out Pretend We’re Football and/or our Twitter account. My next recap will come out after Seton Hall because writing another of these recaps over just Cal Baptist & SHSU sounds boring and I’m going on a trip the week of Seton Hall. I’ll be back that night, so some time after Seton Hall I’ll post something. That’s noncommittal, I know, but also 90% of you aren’t paying anything for this so you get what you get. I have a Patreon if you want to tip me so I’m mildly less sassy about my schedule.
Writing tunes provided by Villanova vs Purdue.