Before the season, first-year Texas Longhorns head coach Sean Miller was asked what his team could do to get fans excited. “We have to play with tremendous effort that if you’re a Texas fan, you’re a basketball fan, that you learn to really respect and appreciate the effort level and the togetherness, but in particularly, […]
Before the season, first-year Texas Longhorns head coach Sean Miller was asked what his team could do to get fans excited.
“We have to play with tremendous effort that if you’re a Texas fan, you’re a basketball fan, that you learn to really respect and appreciate the effort level and the togetherness, but in particularly, I think the energy and the competitive spirit that we play with, that’s what we can control, that’s what we’re growing, and that’s what we’re building,” Miller said in late October.
Call Miller’s efforts to get his team to play with consistent effort a failure, especially in regards to establishing that competitive spirit and togetherness as the team’s identity.
After Tuesday’s 85-71 loss to No. 21 Tennessee in Knoxville, Miller was asked about his team’s progress in establishing that identity.
“We’re not making any,” Miller said.
As Miller attempts to assert his control over the program and how his players represent it on the court, he teased lineup changes as soon as Saturday’s matchup against No. 13 Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
“If you can’t play with effort, it’s going to be a very, very hard next couple of months, and I think you’ll see that. Our lineup has to change. I can’t keep playing certain guys. We’re at that point. We’re just going to have to go with whoever is ready to play hard. We have to go with them, because that’s going to be our best bet.”
The second half of the loss to the Volunteers could provide a preview of that lineup as Miller used a small lineup consisting of graduate guard Tramon Mark, senior guard Chendall Weaver, junior guard Simeon Wilcher, junior forward Camden Heide, and sophomore forward Nic Codie.
Amidst struggles by sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis and graduate forward Lassina Traore, the inclusion of Codie in the lineup was the most surprising after he was demoted from the starting lineup and benched during the Maui Invitational.
“Nic Codie is a young player that we believe in. His effort level, his attitude, his daily disposition, his competitive spirit, all have to improve,” Miller said at the time.
Since then, the most minutes Codie played was 13 against Virginia before only seeing a combined nine minutes in the final two non-conference games and failing to see the court in the loss to Mississippi State last Saturday.
Codie didn’t make much an impact on the box score, hitting a three and securing an offensive rebound and a block while committing a foul in his 17 minutes of action. But Miller’s point to his team may go beyond those results — the sophomore’s playing time could be an indication that his effort level, daily disposition, and competitive spirt have improved over the last five weeks.
And those are all areas where the three benched starters, Vokietaitis, senior guard Jordan Pope, and junior wing Dailyn Swain may have to improve to get back on the court after Vokietaitis played two minutes in the second half on Tuesday, Pope played three minutes, and Swain played six minutes.
So Saturday’s matchup against the Crimson Tide, in which the Longhorns have a nine-percent win probability, according to BartTorvik.com, seems less like an inflection point for a season that already appears lost and more like an inflection point in Miller’s early attempts to build the culture he wants in his basketball program.
What happens with Pope, who is out of eligibility after this season, doesn’t particularly matter, but whether Miller can turn around the seasons of Vokietaitis and Swain, the two most valuable assets for this Texas program, is hugely important for the possibility of getting both back on the Forty Acres for the 2026-27 campaign.
The outcome of Saturday’s game seems like a foregone conclusion — Alabama has the nation’s No. 1 offense in adjusted efficiency, has the No. 2 three-point rate, and plays at the No. 14 adjusted tempo, providing a clear blueprint for how the Crimson Tide could overwhelm the questionable defense for the Longhorns. Last season, head coach Nate Oats’ team steamrolled Texas in Austin by 23 points despite 24 points from Tre Johnson, who won’t be at Coleman Coliseum on Saturday to save Texas from more abject catastrophe.
But at least Miller can’t emerge from the matchup any more angry with his team than he has been after the last two games. Right? Right?
Tip is at 7 p.m. Central on ESPN.
Category: General Sports
