A (semi) Statistical Recap of Texas

Texas had the best defense in the country in the regular season. In Big 12 conference play they allowed .89 points per possession and they allowed their opponents to put up a 42.5% eFG. Yesterday Kansas scored 1.25 points per possession and had a 62.9% eFG. Quite simply it was their best offensive performance of the season. It very possibly was anyone's best offensive performance of the season. They shot 41% from three, a full 15% above what UT allowed in Big 12 play, and 63% from two, which is 20% above what Texas allowed.

Defensively Kansas was good but not great. They allowed 1.07 PPP, just barely under Texas's season average. But they did allow the Horns to shoot only 43% from two, which is under what they normally shoot and better than Kansas does on average. They especially did a good job on Tristan Thompson, who only got off four shots, and Jordan Hamilton, who, though he had 21 points, he required 21 shots to do so.

Kansas secured the ball very well, turning it over on only 14.7% of their possessions, though this is likely a function of Texas's defensive style as much as it is about Kansas's offensive play. Texas turned it over even less, coughing it up on only 10.3% of their possessions. Neither team did much offensive rebounding, with each team at roughly 25%.

• How about that Tyshawn Taylor? The Junior had 20 points, shooting 5-8 from two and 2-2 from three. He had 4 rebounds and 5 assists.
  
• Each of the Morris twins went 6-9 from the field, the main difference between the two being that Markieff took an extra three, which he missed, and went 5-6 from two while Marcus was 5-7. Marcus had 6 rebounds and Markieff had 9, and in the waning moments of the game they traded alley oop passes to eachother.
• Brady Morningstar, in addition to the defense played on Hamilton, was 4-5 from two and 1-2 from three for 13 points. He also had 6 assists.
• Tyrel struggled a bit with his shot, but ended up 2-6 from three and it likely was just a function of his heel getting to him a bit, as most of his shots were short. Though it wasn't evident on his dunk, the first of his career.
• Thomas Robinson rebounded from a poor first couple of games, scoring 10 points on 5-7 shooting and grabbing 9 rebounds in 18 minutes. He also picked up the weakest technical of all time.
  
• Lastly, I just want to send a quick shoutout to my alma mater, the University of North Dakota, which defeated archrival South Dakota in double overtime last night to win the Great West tournament.