For those of you who were able to catch what was a tremendous, yet absolutely terrible game between Kentucky and Texas in Rupp Arena last night, congratulations; you were able to witness the two best teams in college basketball battle it out in a non-conference match for the ages.
And yes, I did just refer to Texas as the second-best team in college basketball. I understand they lost, but there’s a few reasons why I feel Rick Barnes’ club proved more than enough in their loss to the No. 1-ranked Wildcats and deserved to be considered in such a high light.
First and foremost, how many teams can come into Rupp Arena without their best player, while their interior forces sit the pine in foul trouble and still manage to be into halftime in a tie with what has been called the most talented team in college basketball history?
The Longhorns stand alone on that list. In what was an extremely choppy game that the refs decided they were going to help decide the outcome of, Texas went blow for blow with the best team in the country in a hostile environment and still had an opportunity for the upset in the final minutes of the game.
Of course, they didn’t achieve that feat, but there’s certainly no knocking Texas for how well they match with the towering Wildcats in Lexington without their star.
As I mentioned, the game was extremely choppy and the whistle unquestionably played an enormous role in the outcome, whether it be preventing Texas from stealing one on the road or Kentucky blowing another Big 12 opponent away, just as they did with Kansas.
There were a total of 51 fouls called, with Cameron Ridley and Myles Turner fouling out for Texas, while Alex Poythress fouled out for the Cats. Jonathan Holmes, and Prince Ibeh also collected four fouls for Texas.
Dakari Johnson and Trey Lyles did the same for Kentucky, which should just go to show how immense of a battle it was for both squads down in the paint.
For Texas, they struggled to find their offense throughout the game, and this was especially so after Kentucky seemingly blew the gates open after a run that began with Jonathan Holmes flagrant foul call on Karl-Anthony Towns, which continued into the second half.
Texas continued to scrape and claw their way back into the game, but when you get down by 12 on the road in arguably the most difficult arena in the country against Kentucky, the outcome is never really promising.
But long story short, this Texas team is definitely for real and anybody who watched what they did against a massive frontcourt and loaded backcourt for Kentucky will tell you the same.
But when you consider Texas did was able to hang in with the Cats from the beginning tip with Demarcus Holland running the show for them – keep in mind Holland is a defensive minded shooting guard – it only makes the loss more impressive.
It sounds absurd to call a loss impressive, but again, not many people really expected Texas to even remain competitive with Kentucky, much less still have a shot to win it down the stretch. That alone, in my opinion, is enough to consider Texas as the No. 2 team in the country.
Factor in the absence of Texas’ star point guard, Isaiah Taylor, and it makes you think how dangerous this Longhorns’ club could be come March Madness. Go ahead and reserve a spot in the Final Four for them.
As for Kentucky, they’re pretty good, as well. They saw what will likely be their toughest test of the entire regular season last night and came out on top. Credit that to the platoon system.