Texas men's basketball preview, prediction: Big 12 gantlet continues as Longhorns visit BYU
Texas (14-5, 3-3 Big 12) will seek a third straight win in its third straight matchup against a Top 25 team when it visits No. 21 BYU (14-5, 2-4) Saturday at 1 p.m. (ESPN2, 1300).
Here's what you need to know about the matchup:
More: Where Texas basketball ranks in NET ratings after wins over Baylor and Oklahoma
Rodney Terry: Elevation about ‘mind over matter’
Texas will play its only regular-season game at any significant elevation Saturday — the team did scrimmage at Colorado in the preseason — but head coach Rodney Terry is more worried about the rabid BYU fanbase than the 4,551 feet above sea level in Provo, Utah.
“One of the hardest places to play in the country, and it may be the loudest gym we play this year,” he said. "For those of you not familiar with BYU basketball, they have an incredible home court. They know basketball, and they do a great job supporting their team.”
When asked about the elevation, Terry recalled the words of the late Jerry Tarkanian, the former head coach at UNLV who spent a career traveling to — and winning at — gyms across the Rocky Mountains.
“I want to give you that Jerry Tarkanian speech: You're not playing outside, you’re playing inside a controlled climate,” he said. “And lucky enough for us, we're not there long. I mean, we're there 24 hours, almost less. You need to be there about 48 hours or three days for it to really affect you.”
Terry used a trip with one of his teams at Fresno State to Laramie, Wyo., as an example. Laramie is higher than 7,000 feet, but Terry’s team played a four-overtime game against Wyoming.
“And we could have played another,” he said with a laugh. “It’s just mind over matter.”
Chendall Weaver: Impacting game ‘on both ends’
Sophomore Chendall Weaver, a UTA transfer in the offseason, has become a valuable member of the rotation the past two games. After playing just four minutes in a home loss to Central Florida on Jan. 17, the 6-foot-3 guard has played a total of 47 minutes in wins over Baylor and Oklahoma the past two games. In Tuesday’s 75-60 win over Oklahoma, he set a season high with 11 points and added four rebounds, one block and one steal in a season-best 27 minutes. Better yet, said Terry, he provides a fiery spark off the bench with his defense.
“He impacts winning on both ends of the court,” Terry said. “He doesn’t complain about not getting shots or not getting a play called for him. He’s just one of the everyday guys for us. He punches the clock every day.”
BYU: Three-for-all offense leads the Big 12
Fans have spent the past couple of days wringing their hands about BYU’s inability to close out games after Wednesday’s 75-68 home loss to Houston, but the Cougars have impressed in their debut Big 12 season. BYU leads the league in scoring at 84.4 points a game and ranks third in point differential at plus 19. The 3-point shot has been BYU’s weapon of choice; the Cougars have launched 647 shots from behind the arc, which tops the conference and is 163 more than second-place Oklahoma State. Jaxson Robinson, a 6-7 guard who leads BYU with 13.1 points a game, paces a team that boasts five players who average in double-figure points.
Texas vs. BYU prediction
BYU. In a rare meeting between two teams that have played just once in the past 40 years, a desperate BYU team will rely on its significant home-court advantage to avoid a third consecutive loss and a deep hole in the Big 12.
— Thomas Jones
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas men's basketball preview, prediction: Longhorns face host BYU
