Three Thoughts on Texas’ 56-44 Win Over Colorado State
The 2024 NCAA Tournament is underway and on Thursday, the First Round got underway, including the No. 7 Texas Longhorns taking on No. 10 Colorado State. The Rams were fresh off a play-in game against Virginia, which they won 67-42.
But on Thursday night in Charlotte, it was the Longhorns rolling to the Round 32 with a 56-44 victory.
Here are three thoughts on the game.
So, About that First Half
Woof. At halftime, the Longhorns led the Rams 27-11. This comes after Colorado State played a UVA team that scored 14 points in the first half of their game on Tuesday night. It was actually the Rams who had an early 8-1 lead, before Texas closed the half on a 26-3 run.
This was very unlike Texas, as the Longhorns were in the Top 5 in the Big 12 in scoring at over 76 points per game, while the Longhorns gave up nearly 70 points per contest. The second half normalized, as the Longhorns were actually outscored 33-29, but did plenty to hang on for the convincing win to advance to the Round of 32.
Texas Turnovers
The Longhorns outscored Colorado State 15-0 in points off turnovers. Overall, UT forced 19 turnovers in the game, which helped them take care of business against the Rams and effectively put away the game in the first half. This was a positive trend for UT all season, as Texas is getting 19.2 points per game off of turnovers, while only allowing 12 points per game on their turnovers.
On a night where Texas couldn’t find the bottom of the bucket, including shooting 1-14 from three-point range, owning the turnover margin (19-12) and the points off turnovers, was a key to victory for the Longhorns.
Rodney Terry’s Tourney Success
Rodney Terry took over Texas in the middle of the 2022-23 season after Chris Beard’s firing and led UT to a 12-6 Big 12 record, a Big 12 Tournament Championship and then an Elite 8. This season has been much more up-and-down for UT. But despite a 9-9 record in league play and losing their first game in the Big 12 Tournament to Kansas State, the Longhorns will have a chance to punch a ticket to the Sweet 16 against either No. 2 Tennessee or No. 15 St. Peter’s.
As UT gets set to head to the SEC next season, Terry will have himself positioned in a good place, win or lose, this weekend.
